‘Direct selling firm Modicare adds 2 lakh consultants a month’

Pandemic-induced job losses triggered onboarding: MD

Samir Modi, Managing Director, Modi Enterprises.

Direct selling firm Modicare on Friday said it has been onboarding nearly two lakh consultants every month as people are turning to direct selling after losing their jobs amid the pandemic.

“During COVID many people lost jobs overnight, for them direct selling became an option. And they could do it from home as well, without stepping out,” said Samir Modi, founder and MD, Modicare Ltd.

“Currently have a base of 53 lakh consultants with two lakh new consultants joining every month,” Mr. Modi said. He added that men and women accounted for 50% each of the consultant base, with 30% consultants in the age group of 21-29 years, 50% aged from 30-49, and the remaining above 50 years. Mr. Modi added that the company had been growing at a CAGR of 65% and expected to garner revenues of about ₹2,100 crore this year.

“Five years ago, we were at ₹96 crore. This growth has been driven by new product offerings. Even during the pandemic, we unveiled 150 new products across categories like oil, ghee, masalas, tea and coffee,” he said.

U.K. market entry

Mr. Modi further said the company was looking at entering the U.K. market with cosmetics and wellness segment products and would be investing ₹60 crore in that.

“We will expand the product line in the U.K. We need to get UK FDA registration and EU FDA registration and that takes a long time,” the MD said. “Hence, launching with limited categories,” he added. The company also announced its foray into consumer durables last month with air purifiers. “We have sold 5,000 units in October 2021, and expect the number to go up to 6000-8,000 units per month in Q3. In due course, we are looking at 25-30k a month,” Mr. Modi said.

The company would not be manufacturing the products and had tied up with Korean firm Cuckoo for the same. “We have our own R&D for our products. We do all the testing and decide what products to bring into the market… what will be the specifications...but we work with manufacturers as we don't want to compromise on technology,” he said.

The company would also roll-out more products like rice cookers, televisions and water purifiers, he added.