‘Beauty is soul deep, not skin deep’ is Vandana Luthra’s mantra. A well known name in the wellness industry, Ms. Luthra is also chairperson of the Beauty and Wellness Sector Skill Council, an initiative of the Prime Minister’s Kausal Vikas Yojna.
It is a sector that has an immense potential for growth and is currently growing at pace of over 20 per cent, said Ms. Luthra, who is in Kochi as part of her tour of VLCC centres in south India.
The skill development programme is in the process of preparing a blue book for best practices and wages in the sector.
A scientific approach to beauty or rather healthy living is what she has been promoting from 1989 when she started her venture. “And no one at that time was even talking about wellness,” she added.
The fitness regime was more of a luxury back then than the necessity it is today, said Ms. Luthra.
It is a sector where 75 per cent of business is unorganised. The skill development programme intends to make the sector more organised and responsible.
Funded by the National Skill Development Corporation and an initiative of the Confederation of the Indian Industry, the skill development programme has created courses based on what the VLCC had been practising over the years and has given back Rs.3 crore to the Kausal Vikas Yojna by training 1.75 lakh persons over a year.
Over the past 25 years, Ms. Luthra has come a long way as an entrepreneur, from what was considered a “hyped beauty salon” to an empire of wellness services, cosmetic products and training institutes with over 300 centres in the country and 30 abroad.
