Cycle Pure Agarbatti plans to completely offset its plastic footprint by 2026

Arjun Ranga, MD, Cycle Pure Agarbatti, said, "We've been zero carbon for about eight years now. We plan to completely offset our entire plastic footprint as well by 2026."

While speaking to Anupama Sajeet of Campaign India, Arjun Ranga added, "Surprisingly, the majority of the GenZ and millennials and the rest still believe in spirituality, in doing good, in giving back to society, in connecting with nature, and in ethical businesses. And that's exactly down our alley because we are the only zero-carbon incense manufacturer."

He added, "Cycle Pure Agarbatti are Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified packaging. We use completely global standards fragrances in every one of our fragrances. We have every possible ISO certification that you can imagine for employees’ and workers’ health and safety. So it's a very ethical business where we use completely recyclable packaging for the inner packaging of the products as well."

The legacy brand was founded by N Ranga Rao in 1948 - now into its third generation of entrepreneurs, celebrating the 75 year milestone, Arjun Ranga, managing director, Cycle Pure Agarbatti joined the family business in 2000.

He said, "As a brand and as a company, we were always ahead of our times right from the time of my grandfather. We revolutionised the packaging of incense sticks."

Earlier Cycle Pure Agarbatti used to come in tin boxes. Arjun Ranga said, "We were the first ones to use the duplex board packaging that you see today. We were the first company in India to get into an FMCG mode of distribution for an unbranded product like ‘agarbatti’. We innovated a lot with fragrances, products and variants, and started the export business as well."

The category has 85% penetration in India. 85% of the billion population uses the product. Of this, AC Nielsen puts Cycle Pure Agarbatti's market share at about 15% of the organised market.