I used to read Hindi newspapers, the beauty column, skin care and hair when I was around 10 or 12 and I used to read that to my sister and her friends like I had an interest in beauty since I was a kid
-Anurag Kedia (CEO & Co-founder)
There was a time when one product was everything. A few of them in India did not use any products or anything. Still, gradually it started to shift and it shifted from one product from Ghar Ke nani Ke nuske to dermatologist-recommended products.
There was a time when I didn't use any products. Most men used to use a soap bar for the full body. Around 2018 there was a great disruption in the dressing table from one product to a 7-step skin care routine. India wanted something that specifically works for their skin type. The market of personal care had started to boost.
At that time Anurag Kedia was already in service catering to personal care and he saw how kbeauty products were taking the indian market but most of the indian consumers could not afford them, so he thought “I wanted to bring secrets from all over the world and make a brand which will be cheaper and reasonable for the Indian consumers.” And that became pilgrim secrets from all over the world
Today, Pilgrim is one of the trusted skin care brands in India and it is growing 47% for the 2026 fiscal year (FY26), with a target of breaching the ₹600 crore mark by the end of the period. This follows a massive 105.4% surge in FY25, where the brand reached an operating revenue of ₹408.3 crore.
Anurag Kedia, born into a Marwadi family, lived a life where business was not taught but simply lived. Money, margins, risk, and survival were the constant focus, from dining to family gatherings. Yet, Anurag, despite witnessing the darker side of businesses, didn’t dream of building one. He had seen the pressure, uncertainty, and emotional toll they demanded from families.
Anurag, from a small town in Chhattisgarh, aspired for a stable job and a secure life, like most Indian students. He studied hard, cracked the system, and earned his MBA from IIM Ahmedabad, aiming for a respectable corporate career.
However, Anurag often says, “We never know what life or God has planned for us.” Life doesn’t always follow the plans we make, sometimes it brings us back to the roots we once tried to escape. A casual conversation with a friend sparked an idea to start a service business.
Anurag took a step and entered the beauty and wellness space, an industry he had always been curious about but never imagined building a future in. It wasn’t an overnight success; it was years of learning on the ground.
Anurag built and scaled businesses like Four Fountains De-Stress Spa, NuAyurveda Clinics, and Jazz Up Salons, and later worked closely with Richfeel Health & Beauty as a Director and Board Advisor. These ventures taught him how people think, feel, and trust, and running physical spas revealed what customers truly care about in the sensory experience.
Then came the lockdown. The world stopped, doors closed, and service businesses suffered. But Anurag, with years of hands-on experience, paused and reflected.
At that point, India was shifting from one product to a 7-step skin care routine and K-beauty was taking the market but some consumers could not afford the price range of those products. So the idea of bringing secrets of personal care from the world to the home came to mind and that belief became a D2C brand Pilgrim.
Pilgrim didn’t start with a big capital. In fact, fundraising was done over WhatsApp. Further, they were not aware of how product listing was done. To know about product listing, they listed a product online for trial purposes.“Within four minutes, an order came in from Gujarat.”The office went into a state of panic.
They had no proper packaging boxes. No idea why the order was placed either. Help was sought from a friend, and brown shipping boxes were arranged, and that was their very first order shipping out. Instant reality of Pilgrim.
When they first started creating the brand for the first three months there were zero sales from e-commerce, the anxiety of not getting any sales and it became difficult for them everything stopped, money ran out and anxiety took over. The team of 6–7 people worked without salaries. Survival became the only goal. But in May-June 2020, the market slowly reopened and something unexpected happened. Online demand surged. Within six months, Pilgrim crossed ₹1 crore in revenue. The gates to the D2C market have opened.
Within 12–18 months, Pilgrim reached ₹3 crore, then ₹8 crore after a year, and eventually scaled into a ₹3,300 crore brand, starting with just 9 products range “Secrets of Jeju" to a +250 product range and the latest being “Swiss Aqua Rush Secrets”
Pilgrim was built for a new generation of consumers conscious, informed, and intentional. The brand focuses on being:
Vegan and cruelty-free
Free from toxic ingredients
Environmentally and socially responsible
Plastic-conscious and sustainable
Pilgrim disrupted the Indian dressing table by offering 15–20 targeted products, each designed for specific skin needs. No unnecessary claims. No shortcuts.
What started as a journey of fear, doubt, and hesitation slowly turned into a story of purpose. Anurag didn’t chase success — he grew into it. From Korean skincare innovations to French Bordeaux red wine-based formulations and Spanish ingredients, Pilgrim brings the world’s best beauty science to Indian consumers..
Pilgrim isn’t just a beauty company. It’s the story of patience, purpose, and persistence.
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