Avon to open new office in North Bengal, India

US- based beauty care products manufacturer Avon is planning to open new office in the North Bengal, as to tap the region and to focus on promoting women entrepreneurship.

The firm operates through the direct selling model in the country from 12 locations, including two the Kolkata region and will soon open an office at Siliguri in North Bengal.

Avon Beauty Products India managing director Ujjwal Sankar Mukhopadhyay told The Times of India the company has 12 offices in India of which two are in the eastern region and it is planning to open new office in Siliguri, as the firm looks great potential in North Bengal, specially, Darjeeling Kalimpong, Siliguri, Jalpaiguri is developing and doing good.

"In the last three years, the company has been expanding at compounded annual growth rate ( CAGR) of 40 per cent and we would like to maintain this healthy growth rate in the coming years," Mukhopadhyay added.

According to the newspaper, the firm currently sells around 1,500 products in India through direct selling agents and also sees great potential in women entrepreneurship in West Bengal.

The firm is planning to increase its direct selling agents from about 1,00,000 representatives to 1,20,000 in 2012.

Mukhopadhyay said the company has a manufacturing unit at Dehradun, which produces 85% of the products sold in India, while remaining 15% of the products are imported from various locations globally.

The parent company Avon has more than 6.5 million representatives selling its products over 100 countries.

In 2011, the firm had posted a global turnover of more than $11bn.

Avon India offers beauty products and fashion accessories under the brand names such as Avon Color, Anew, Skin-So-Soft, Avon Solutions and Avon Naturals.