HELLO! India Exclusive: The perfumer reclaiming India’s scent story

India has long been the best-kept secret of the perfume industry. For centuries, the scent-makers of Kannauj have transformed roses at dawn, jasmine in bloom, earthy vetiver, precious oud, and the intoxicating aroma of rain-soaked earth into liquid memory. Within copper stills darkened by generations of use, they have distilled not merely fragrance, but history itself — capturing seasons, landscapes, rituals, and emotions in a bottle. Their craft has survived the rise and fall of empires, weathered changing dynasties, and endured long after kingdoms, fashions, and fortunes faded into history.

Across centuries, their knowledge, ingredients, and time-honoured techniques travelled far beyond the narrow lanes of Kannauj, quietly shaping fragrance traditions across the world. Yet, while French perfume houses came to define the language of luxury, the country that helped shape the global narrative of fragrances eventually became a footnote.

“Perfume always existed in our rituals, spirituality, medicine, and celebrations,” says Amal Jain, a fourth-generation perfumer from Kannauj. “The Rig Vedas mention fragrance. Ayurveda discusses scents and oils. We do not receive the same recognition as the French fragrance culture not because we lacked expertise but because we never built the narrative around our expertise.”

Historically, he adds, India operated as a supplier economy. “We were exceptional at B2B and less focussed on building global consumer brands.” Now with his, eponymous perfume house, Amal is determined to change the status quo and ensure that India becomes one of the defining chapters in the story of scent. “The idea was simple: Indian perfumery should not simply participate in global conversations; it should shape them.”

His collection reflects this philosophy. Silk Route, for instance, interprets movement and trade through spice, saffron, florals, and ambergris. Oud Al Mukhtar looks at oud through layering rather than intensity. Venus, Aqua Blanche, and Champagne Brunch explore softer expressions of luxury. It’s no coincidence that Amal chose The Louvre in Paris to unveil these to the world. What better stage to celebrate Indian perfumery — an art form shaped over centuries of craftsmanship, memory, and tradition — than the world’s most revered platforms of culture and art? For Amal, perfumery has always been art first. So, this was not merely a global launch of a brand either.

“It was about placing Indian perfumery into a cultural institution that celebrates art, history, and craftsmanship... Paintings tell stories visually. Music tells stories sonically. We tell stories olfactorily,” he explains.

It is also a way of life to the perfumer whose childhood smells like nagarmotha (cyperus) — rooty, earthy, warm, and slightly smoky. His earliest memories are landscapes entirely of scents. “Flowers arrived in truckloads and were piled so high, they looked like hills,” recalls the 31-year-old. “My brother, cousins, friends, and I used to play hide-and-seek inside mountains of rose petals, mogra, marigold sacks, and jasmine waiting for distillation.”

So, it’s unsurprising that when Amal eventually entered the lab as a perfumer, blending felt natural as his mind had already created scent maps subconsciously. Responsibility, too, shaped this relationship.

“When you inherit generations of craft, you understand early that you are carrying something larger than yourself,” says the perfumer, for whom fragrances are a part of memory, culture, and storytelling. We wonder what defines a quintessential Kannauj perfume... “Patience!” he quips, without missing a beat. “For me, the soul of Kannauj smells like Shamama. Traditional Shamama compositions can contain more than 56 natural ingredients, including herbs, woods, roots, spices, and florals sourced from across India. Some compositions require nearly six months of co-distillation and maturation to fully reveal themselves.” Indeed, some processes should not be rushed.

“The deg bhapka system sits at the heart of our house because technique itself carries culture. Distillation takes time. Maturation takes time. Natural materials take time. Modernisation helps us communicate better. Craft remains untouched because intention itself is luxury,” says Amal, adding that he hopes to translate this complexity for a global audience, not just simplify it.

It is perhaps this philosophy of patience and focus on craft that sets apart Kannauj’s centuries-old perfumery traditions in an industry getting increasingly obsessed with speed and scale. Also, with consumers becoming more conscious about provenance, craftsmanship, cultural authenticity, concentration, founders, and storytelling, India’s perfumery practices, indigenous raw materials, and inherited expertise are competitive advantages today. “Indian fragrance brands absolutely have the power to compete globally because we already possess the ingredients, the methods, and the knowledge,” says Amal, also highlighting how ironically, many of the raw materials used by global luxury houses originate from ecosystems like ours. “What was missing earlier was brand building. With the resources available today, Indian fragrance houses can build globally respected labels.”

The House of Amal Jain is, however, not interested in competing with mass fragrance brands — its ambition lies within niche perfumery, where it intends to build distinct olfactory narratives rooted in the India story. Also, while the heritage of Indian perfumery may well become its strongest claim to luxury, Amal is quick to point out that it can’t be artificially manufactured.

“You cannot become an Indian fragrance house simply for the sake of appearing Indian. For us, the deg bhapka naturally became the heart of our storytelling because our factories in Kannauj have used it for decades,” explains Amal, emphasising how that system, that process, that method of distillation is part of our reality.

“Ancient references matter because they are genuine, not because they are marketable. You have to understand what truly sits at the heart of your story.”