Perfumes off UK shelves over Indian workers wage allegations

LONDON - In a move that could affect India’s draw as a cheap manufacturing destination, Superdrug, the UK’s second-largest health and beauty retailer, has pulled out the perfumes of reality TV star Katie Price from its shelves following allegations that Indian workers making the bottles were not even paid minimum wages.

The Observer on Sunday, of The Guardian group, has said its investigations revealed that Indian workers at a factory in Gujarat were paid £2.05 a day to make perfume bottles for Price’s Stunning and Besotted fragrances. Glassworkers should earn at least £2.25 a day.

A spokeswoman for Superdrugs, the high street shop, said: “As a business, we have a robust ethical trading policy so that our customers can be confident that they are buying products that are made in an ethical way. Therefore, we have taken the decision to remove Katie Price’s fragrances from our shelves at this time while we conduct an investigation.”

Price’s spokesperson said production has now been moved to the UK. In a statement, the spokesperson said: “Following a press report about the production of Katie Price” perfume bottles by the Pragati Glass Company, we can confirm that this factory in India is no longer used as a source of component. The production of the bottle, its packaging, filling and finishing has been moved from India to the UK and France.”

It is now learnt that England’s World Cup sponsor Umbro, owned by Nike, had severed its relations with Pragati this January after finding was a sub-contractor. A spokesperson told The Observer that a licensee had subcontracted the work to another company, Aroma de France, based in India, which in turn had subcontracted it to Pragati Glass. She said that at no point was Umbro aware that Pragati was the subcontractor. Umbro has now moved its operations to China.

The firm, Pragati Glass, based in Kosamba in Gujarat, was approached three years ago by Price’s representatives and was contracted to produce 300,000 bottles. Marketed under the name “Stunning”, the first perfume she launched sold in Superdrug for £19.99 for a 50ml bottle.

The newspaper quoted Dinesh Gupta, managing director of Pragati Glass, as saying the employees are paid a basic wage equivalent to £1.75 per day for an eight-hour shift, with an additional 31pence from the government bringing the wage up to what he says is the legal minimum of 141 rupees (£2.05).

However, the newspaper has claimed the figures are incorrect. “Official figures do not list glass workers in Gujarat as a unique category, as they do in some states such as Maharashtra where the firm is based and where the minimum wage for an unskilled glass worker works out as £2.45 per day, rising to £2.55 for a skilled worker.

“But the minimum wage for an unskilled worker involved in a manufacturing process in Gujarat is listed as £2.25, rising to £2.40 for a skilled worker. Gupta insists that the company has done nothing wrong and that it is paying the minimum wage. When it was put to him again on Friday that 141 rupees is below the minimum wage, he refused to comment other than to deny any wrongdoing.”

The factory originally came to limelight when perfume tycoon, the late Bob Coleman, contracted Pragati to produce a perfume for Jade Goody, the late reality TV star. Pragati is learnt to have produced over three lakh bottles for Goody’s perfume, Shh. Goody even visited the factory in 2006. However, the production ended after Shilpagate, the racism row involving her and Indian film actress Shilpa Shetty.

((Venkata Vemuri can be contacted at venkata.v@ians.in)