ABSTRACT

Dear Reader,

Fairness of skin is most sought after by the Asians and Africans and the whole world clamours for products which are for either (a) skin whitening; (b) skin lightening; or (c) skin bleaching.

The global ‘fairness’ products market is valued at USD 10 billion (` ~80,000 crore). The market in India is estimated to be worth nearly ` 5,000-10,000 crore and the average growth rate in the last two decades has been a healthy (sic) 20%. It is not only the Indians who are fanatic about looking ‘fairer’, the people of Nigeria and Ghana rule in this regard. This is evident from the list of top 5 countries whose population are frequent users of various skin products globally.