Nine times since August 2023, India’s advertising regulator has looked at a The Man Company advertisement and ruled on it. Every one of those nine was about a product claim. Not one was about an influencer forgetting to label a paid post. Eight of the nine went against the brand. That is the highest strike rate of any large Indian men’s grooming label, and it is the reason this audit spends most of its time on what the packaging promises.
The brand also stopped being independent four years ago, and its owner publishes nothing at all about how it is doing.
The Man Company is wholly owned by Emami Limited, a subsidiary since 1 July 2022. Its Beard Growth Oil costs ₹11.63 per millilitre — nearly six times its own ₹1.99 face wash — and promises “Visible Beard Growth” with no study, laboratory or report published. Emami discloses no revenue for the brand; the register shows ₹161.17 crore in FY2026 with a ₹32.54 crore loss.
Snapshot
- Brand launched
- 2015, by Hitesh Dhingra, Rohit Chawla, Parvesh Bareja and Bhisham Bhateja
- Operating company
- Helios Lifestyle Limited, incorporated 27 February 2013, Gurugram
- Current owner
- Emami Limited (BSE 531162, NSE EMAMILTD) — subsidiary from 1 July 2022, balance agreed 31 August 2024
- Revenue on the register
- ₹161.17 crore in FY2026, with a net loss of ₹32.54 crore
- Price band in India
- ₹199 to ₹899, checked 3 September 2026
- Advertising record
- Nine outcomes since August 2023, all about product claims, eight upheld
How it started
The brand dates itself to 2015. Helios Lifestyle was incorporated two years earlier, on 27 February 2013, and still sits on the register under a classification that reads “manufacture of other chemical product” — which, as the next section shows, is not what it does.
Emami invested first in 2017. Its vice chairman has described that as the group’s first strategic investment. Control arrived on 1 July 2022, when Helios became a subsidiary at 50.40%, and on 31 August 2024 Emami agreed to buy the remaining 49.60%. No consideration was disclosed at any stage. Today the two directors on the register are both Emami people; no founder sits on the board.
- Helios Lifestyle incorporated27 February 2013; brand trading from 2015
- Emami’s first investment2017, a minority stake
- Subsidiary at 50.40%1 July 2022; consolidated into Emami’s accounts
- Emami agrees the balance 49.60%31 August 2024; consideration never disclosed
What Emami does not do is tell you how the brand is trading. The 31 August 2024 release — the obvious place for a number — carries no revenue, no margin and no price. There is no segment disclosure either. Marico, which owns Beardo, published that brand’s turnover of ₹214.17 crore in a filing. Emami has published nothing equivalent.
- FY2024About ₹185 crore, reported at the time of the buyout
- FY2025₹154 crore, down roughly a sixth
- FY2026₹161.17 crore, with a net loss of ₹32.54 crore
The loss widened by nearly half in the year revenue recovered.
One number in that filing explains the shape of the business. Other expenses — mostly marketing and platform fees — came to ₹101.68 crore, more than half again what the company spent on materials at ₹64.15 crore. On its own earnings call in August 2025, Emami said the brand had “returned to growth in June ’25” and would have “lesser losses” than the year before.
What they actually make
Nothing its own website will name. We read ten product pages on 3 September 2026, and all ten name a third-party manufacturer — seven different factories across the range. Helios Lifestyle is not among them.
| Product | Manufacturer on the page | Licence printed |
|---|---|---|
| Beard Growth Oil, 30 ml | Bio Avenues, Derabassi, Punjab | 143-Cos.-Pb |
| 10% Vitamin C Face Serum, 30 ml | Indo Herbal Products, Haridwar | 20/C/UA/2010 |
| Sunscreen Gel SPF50 PA++++ | WEDERM Pvt Ltd, Mohali | Not printed |
| Vitamin C Face Wash, 100 ml | Kapco International, Parwanoo | Not printed |
| Beard Wash, Almond & Thyme | Goodness of Nature, Kanpur Dehat | Not printed |
Two of those pages print a state manufacturing licence number, which is more than most Indian grooming brands manage and deserves credit. Nine of ten declare India as the country of origin. The exception is the one that matters most: the SPF 50 sunscreen page prints no net quantity and no country of origin at all, so you cannot even work out what it costs per millilitre.
The split between the name on the bottle and the factory behind it is the same one Indian footwear has: Campus runs its own plants, while Bata India is a listed company distinct from the brand on the shoe. Contract manufacturing is normal. It only matters because the marketing never mentions the people making the formula.
What The Man Company costs in India
Nothing here is expensive by the bottle. It is expensive by the millilitre, and the beard line is where that shows.
- Beard Growth Oil
- 30 ml at ₹349 — ₹11.63 per ml
- Vitamin C Face Wash
- 100 ml at ₹199 — ₹1.99 per ml
- Beard oil premium
- 5.8× the brand’s own face wash
- Checked on
- 3 September 2026
Beardo’s Beard & Hair Growth Oil worked out at ₹9.98 per millilitre the same day, and its 30 ml Godfather oil at ₹9.97. The Man Company is the dearer of the two on both the beard oil and the beard wash, where it charges ₹3.50 per millilitre against ₹3.00.
Beard oil is the most expensive liquid on this website except the perfume, and it is the one the brand publishes least about.
The discounting is milder than the category norm. Two of the ten products sold at full MRP on 3 September 2026, and the typical gap ran 10 to 15%. The exception is the 100 ml Citron eau de parfum, cut from ₹1,499 to ₹899. Comparing a printed MRP against the price actually charged is a habit worth keeping, and it is the same test we apply to footwear brands such as Sparx.
Who The Man Company is actually for
It suits a man who wants a decent-smelling, well-presented routine at a supermarket price, and who reads the ingredient list rather than the front of the bottle. The face washes at around ₹2 per millilitre are honest value. The perfume at ₹899 is a fair fragrance price.
It is a poor fit for anyone buying on a promise. The Beard Growth Oil page claims “Visible Beard Growth”, “Improved Density & Thickness”, “Treats Patchy & Uneven Beard Areas” and “Faster, Fuller & Thicker Beard Growth”. No clinical study, no dermatological test, no laboratory and no report is published for any of it. “Treats” is a treatment verb sitting on a cosmetic with nothing behind it.
Those claims are broader than the two the regulator struck against Beardo’s growth oil on 2 August 2024. The Man Company’s versions have never been ruled on — which is not the same as being cleared. They are simply untested.
Reputation and controversies
Nine outcomes sit on the Advertising Standards Council of India’s record for Helios Lifestyle, checked on 3 September 2026. Every one concerns a product claim. Eight were upheld; the ninth was not. Nothing on the file predates 25 August 2023, so read it as a two-year window rather than a lifetime record. Each outcome was a decision on one advertisement as it stood on its date, not a bar on any form of words going forward, and nobody has ruled on the pages as they read on 3 September 2026. The council is the advertising industry’s own self-regulatory body rather than a statutory regulator.
| Date | Product | Claim held to breach the code |
|---|---|---|
| 25 August 2023 | Hair Volumizing Powder Wax | “Strong hold up to 12 Hours” |
| 22 April 2024 | De-Tan Body Wash | “Perfect solution to wash away tan with every shower” |
| 24 October 2024 | The Man Company range | “Reduces hyperpigmentation”, “Boosts collagen production” |
| 24 October 2024 | The Man Company range | “India’s largest premium Men’s grooming brand” |
| 29 October 2024 | Anti-Acne Gel | “Treats Active Acne”, “Prevents future breakouts” |
The leadership claim is the one worth pausing on. It was struck under Chapter I of the code on 24 October 2024. Emami’s own corporate presentation of August 2025 describes the brand as “India’s leading men’s grooming brand”. An investor deck is not consumer advertising and the ruling does not reach it. On the brand’s own home page on 3 September 2026, the superiority language had been reduced to the single word “Premium”.
The second pattern is chemistry. The site says the entire range is “free of harmful chemicals”, and the Almond & Thyme beard wash carries the word “Toxin-free”. That product’s own printed ingredient list opens with water and then sodium lauryl ether sulfate — a sulphate, listed second. No regulator read for this audit has called that ingredient harmful, and this audit does not either. The point is narrower: the pack carries an absolute claim with no published definition, and its own list names a sulphate second.
The SPF 50 sunscreen page names no test method, no laboratory and no report, and prints no net quantity. Treat the number as a claim, and buy sun protection from a brand that publishes its test.
The Man Company makes no cruelty-free claim and holds no PETA directory listing, which is a cleaner position than claiming a badge you cannot show.
Buying it in India
Buy from themancompany.com or a large authorised retailer. Stock is the practical problem rather than fakes: on 3 September 2026 both the Beard Growth Oil and the Almond & Thyme beard wash showed sold out, and the whole beard-wash collection held four listings, two of them the same product.
Divide by the millilitre
₹349 for 30 ml is ₹11.63 per millilitre. The same brand’s face wash is ₹1.99. Small bottles hide big prices.
Read the second ingredient
Ingredient lists run in descending order. A “toxin-free” wash whose second ingredient is a sulphate is telling you something the front of the pack is not.
Look for the licence number
Two products print a state manufacturing licence — 143-Cos.-Pb and 20/C/UA/2010. That is the mark of a licensed cosmetic plant, and it is worth finding on the box.
Check the net quantity is there at all
The sunscreen page prints none. If a pack in your hand shows no net quantity and no country of origin, put it back.
Ask what the test was
“Visible beard growth” and “SPF 50” are numbers somebody should be able to evidence. Ask which laboratory and what result. Nothing is published for either.
The declarations printed on the brand’s own pages are fuller than most marketplace listings carry, so read the source first and the reseller second. We apply the same rule to retail listings in our Metro audit.
Common questions
Who owns The Man Company?
Emami Limited, the Kolkata FMCG group behind Navratna, BoroPlus and Zandu. It invested first in 2017, took control on 1 July 2022 with a 50.40% stake, and agreed to buy the remaining 49.60% on 31 August 2024. No purchase price has ever been disclosed.
Does The Man Company beard oil work?
The brand publishes no study, laboratory report or test result for any of its growth claims, and no regulator has ruled on them. Judge it on what is published, which is nothing. Its rival Beardo lost two narrower growth claims before the advertising council on 2 August 2024.
Is The Man Company a premium brand?
By price, no. Its core face and hair line sells between ₹199 and ₹350, checked on 3 September 2026. “India’s largest premium Men’s grooming brand” was struck down by the advertising council on 24 October 2024.
Is The Man Company an Indian brand?
Yes. It launched in 2015 and its operating company, Helios Lifestyle Limited, has been registered in Gurugram since 2013. Nine of the ten product pages read for this audit declare India as the country of origin.
How big is The Man Company?
₹161.17 crore of revenue in FY2026 with a net loss of ₹32.54 crore, from the company’s own regulatory filing. Emami publishes no brand-level figure of its own.
Does The Man Company make its own products?
No. Ten product pages name seven different third-party manufacturers, from Bio Avenues in Punjab to Kapco International in Parwanoo. None of them is Helios Lifestyle.
How we research and verify brand audits: our methodology.
References
- ASCI Complaint Outcomes, checked 3 September 2026 — the nine Helios Lifestyle outcomes, including the 24 October 2024 leadership-claim finding
- Emami Limited, press release, 31 August 2024 — the agreement to acquire the balance 49.60%, the founders’ names and the absence of any consideration figure
- Emami Limited, Annual Report 2022-23 — Helios Lifestyle becoming a subsidiary on 1 July 2022 at 50.40%
- Emami Limited, corporate presentation, August 2025 — the “India’s leading men’s grooming brand” description
- Entrackr, FY2026 filing figures — revenue ₹161.17 crore, net loss ₹32.54 crore, other expenses ₹101.68 crore
- Zauba Corp, Helios Lifestyle, accessed 3 September 2026 — incorporation on 27 February 2013, CIN, registered office and classification
- The Man Company, Beard Growth Oil product page, read 3 September 2026 — the growth claims, price, net quantity, ingredient list and manufacturer
- The Man Company, Almond & Thyme Beard Wash, read 3 September 2026 — the “Toxin-free” claim and the printed ingredient list
- The Man Company, SPF50 sunscreen page, read 3 September 2026 — the SPF claim, and the missing net quantity and country of origin
- The Man Company, product collections, read 3 September 2026 — the prices, MRPs and stock positions behind every figure here
The face washes are good value at about ₹2 a millilitre, the perfume is fairly priced, and printing a manufacturing licence number on two products is better disclosure than most of the category offers. Emami is a serious owner with real distribution behind it.
The claims are the problem, and the record says so. Nine advertising outcomes since August 2023, all about product claims, eight upheld — including the brand’s own description of itself as India’s largest premium men’s grooming brand, struck down on 24 October 2024. The beard oil at ₹11.63 a millilitre promises visible growth and publishes nothing behind it.
Buy the ₹199 face wash and skip the ₹349 beard oil: on the evidence published, you are paying 5.8 times the price per millilitre for a promise nobody has tested.
