From puja rooms to lifestyle fragrances: How IRIS is transforming Indian homes
Launched in 2008, IRIS Home Fragrances blends aromachology, design, and heritage to redefine how India experiences scent.
In 1948, when the late N. Ranga Rao began selling incense sticks under the now-iconic Cycle Pure Agarbathi brand from Mysuru; he wasn’t just starting a business — he was shaping the way India smelled. His carefully blended agarbathis (incense sticks) would soon become a ritual essential, finding a place in almost every Indian home.
Seven decades later, that legacy has evolved far beyond the puja room.
The N Ranga Rao and Sons business is now led by 5 cousins from the third generation of the family: Arjun Ranga, Anirudh Ranga, Kiran Ranga, Vishnu Ranga, and Pavan Ranga. Among them, Kiran Ranga, in particular, has taken the family's deep expertise in perfumery and reimagined it for modern lifestyles.
The result is IRIS Home Fragrances — a brand that turns scent into an experience centred around mood, wellness, and modern home decor preferences.“With agarbathis, Cycle was already reaching millions of Indian households,” says Kiran Ranga, Managing Director of IRIS Home Fragrances, the group’s lifestyle and home fragrance division. “But as homes evolved — with air-conditioning, new décor sensibilities, and growing awareness of wellness — we saw an opportunity to extend fragrance beyond rituals, into living spaces.”
A Family Legacy in Fragrance
For the NR Group, fragrance has always been a family art form. Founded in 1948, the Mysuru-headquartered group has grown into a diversified fragrance powerhouse spanning multiple verticals.
Cycle Pure Agarbathi remains the flagship brand and market leader in incense sticks. Ripple Fragrances houses the group’s lifestyle and air care brands, including IRIS and Lia, while NESSO, its natural extracts arm, is a global leader in floral and herbal ingredients such as tuberose and jasmine.
Together, these verticals make the NR Group one of the few fully integrated fragrance houses in India — involved in every stage from natural extraction and blending to product design and retail distribution.
A Perfumer’s Vision
Before joining the company, Kiran studied Business and Perfumery at the University of Plymouth, UK, in a programme accredited by the International Federation of Essential Oils and Aroma Trades (IFEAT). His training as a creative perfumer gave him both the science and sensibility to take Indian perfumery into contemporary spaces.
When he returned to India in the late 1990s, he sought to expand the family legacy beyond incense, exploring new possibilities in home and lifestyle fragrances. That vision found expression in 2008, when Ripple Fragrances launched IRIS Home Fragrances as a standalone lifestyle brand.
Reimagining fragrance for modern homes
IRIS was among the first Indian brands to popularise reed diffusers, aroma candles, potpourri, and vaporisers — products that were then limited to imported luxury shelves. “My grandfather differentiated our products through unique scents,” says Kiran. “With IRIS, we’re taking that same artistry into every corner of modern homes — from living rooms and bedrooms to patios and workspaces.”
The brand’s ethos goes beyond scent; it’s about creating holistic sensory experiences that blend aromachology, design, and wellness.
Its range of over 350 SKUs includes handcrafted smokeless candles, elegant diffusers, essential oil vaporisers, fragrant sachets, and aromatherapy oils. Even its specialty incense — with outdoor variants like lemongrass and citronella — reflects IRIS’s philosophy of using fragrance as a means to calm, rejuvenate, and elevate one’s environment.
Rags-to-riches: This agarbathi brand was started at home, now sells 12 billion agarbathies globally
Building a category from scratch
When IRIS began, the home fragrance category in India barely existed, says Kiran. The brand had to create awareness while ensuring consistent quality across handcrafted materials sourced from artisan clusters across the country.
Today, IRIS products are available in nearly 9,000 outlets across 35 cities, from boutique home decor stores and bookstores to hypermarkets and ecommerce platforms.
The brand has also embraced quick commerce and gifting trends, ensuring that fragrance finds a place in everyday celebrations. “We believe in the power of fragrance to refresh body and mind,” says Kiran. “Our goal is to make scent an everyday companion, not a luxury indulgence.”
Designing scents for brands
Over the years, IRIS has expanded into signature scent creation for brands, designing bespoke fragrances that reflect their identity and ethos. Clients such as William Penn have collaborated with IRIS to create olfactory signatures that enhance brand experience.
“Just like a logo or colour palette, scent can express a brand’s personality,” Kiran explains. “A fragrance can instantly evoke what a brand stands for — warmth, creativity, calm, or confidence.”
Technology meets tradition
This spirit of innovation continues with IRIS’s new formats like ultrasonic diffusers, aroma towers, and smart fragrance systems — technology-driven products that let users personalise mood-based ambience at the tap of a button. The Indian home fragrance market, valued at around Rs 2,550 crore, is growing rapidly, driven by the rising focus on wellness and décor aesthetics. IRIS commands a significant share of the organised segment, establishing itself as one of India’s leading home fragrance brands.
IRIS Home Fragrances has a 35% share in the home fragrance sector, says Kiran. In terms of the Aromatherapy segment, they are planning to expand the product line in the near future.
A scent for every space
Ripple Fragrances, the NR Group’s lifestyle vertical, now oversees a portfolio that covers all segments of lifestyle scent products — IRIS for premium home and spatial fragrances, Lia for affordable home and car air care solutions, and NESSO for high-quality plant-based extracts, essential oils and ingredients. Together, these brands embody the group’s mission to embed fragrance into every aspect of Indian life, from prayer and décor to personal grooming.
As IRIS looks ahead, its focus remains on wellness-led aromatherapy and technology-enabled diffusion. The brand is also expanding into international hospitality and retail chains, taking Indian fragrance expertise global.
The company competes with players like Ekam, ISAK & House of Aromas.
From incense sticks in prayer rooms to curated aroma experiences across homes and workplaces, IRIS captures how tradition and innovation can coexist beautifully. “Cycle became a household name in puja rooms,” Kiran reflects. “With IRIS, our aim is to make fragrance part of every room — and every moment — of people’s lives.”
