Sanchit Jain and Biswapriya Saha, PhD students at IIM Bangalore, share their research into Bare Necessities, the first FMCG company in India to receive B Corp certification, and how it walks the talk of People, Planet, and Profit.

Sanchit Jain and Biswapriya Saha are IIM Bangalore Runners Up in the CoBS 2026 Case Development Challenge, part of the Advanced International Certificate in Responsible Business Practices. With kind acknowledgements to Bare Necessities.

Waste Is a Business Design Problem

India generates an estimated 62 million tonnes of solid waste each year, and only a limited share is formally processed. Much of the remainder ends up in landfills, waterways, open dumping sites, or informal recycling channels sustained by waste-picker communities working under difficult, often hazardous conditions. Waste, however, is not only a municipal challenge. It is also the result of business decisions made upstream through packaging design, product formats, sourcing systems, and convenience-led consumption models.

That is what makes Bare Necessities relevant. Founded in Bengaluru in 2016 by Sahar Mansoor, the company set out to build personal care and home care products that reduce waste at source while embedding ethical and social considerations into operations. It later became the first FMCG company in India to receive B Corp certification, subjecting itself to external standards on governance, social performance, and environmental impact.

From Consumer Brand to Systems Thinking

Many sustainability ventures begin by selling directly to consumers. Bare Necessities followed that route through products such as shampoo bars, soaps, deodorants, and household cleaners designed to minimise disposable packaging. Packaging is home-compostable, refillable, or returnable, while suppliers are expected to sign a code of conduct on ethical practices.

Yet one of the company’s more candid reflections is that, if it were to start today, it might place greater emphasis on materials science and business-to-business innovation. Compostable packaging, multi-layered plastic recycling, waterless formulations, and circular material solutions adopted by multiple firms could create a broader impact than any single niche brand can achieve. As the founder noted, the company is increasingly exploring hybrid models that combine consumer-facing products with deeper R&D-led solutions.

This is an important lesson for larger firms. Consumer brands can demonstrate alternatives, but supply-side innovation often changes markets faster. Large incumbents already possess manufacturing scale, procurement leverage, and distribution reach. What they often lack is the experimentation capacity that smaller firms can provide.

The Price of Responsible Consumption

Bare Necessities also illustrates a structural challenge facing sustainable brands globally: responsible products often cost more. Higher-quality ingredients, smaller production runs, alternative packaging, and stronger labour standards can raise prices relative to conventional mass-market substitutes. The company has openly acknowledged that affordability remains a barrier to wider adoption, while expressing the intention to lower costs over time through scale.

If sustainability consistently carries a price premium, adoption may remain concentrated among affluent urban consumers rather than spreading through mainstream markets. For business leaders, this means ethical positioning alone is insufficient. Cost innovation matters.

Making Circularity Work in Practice

The company’s “Return Your Jars” program allows customers with five or more empty jars to request doorstep pickup. Containers are then sterilised, reused, and linked to a 10% discount on future purchases. Around ten such returns are processed monthly.

While it is a credible attempt to operationalise circularity, it also highlights the challenge. Reverse logistics are expensive, fragmented, and behaviourally demanding. In markets increasingly shaped by speed and convenience, environmental intent can be undermined by operational friction.

The lesson is clear: circular economy strategies require logistics capability and incentive design, not merely marketing claims.

The Complexity of Sustainable Innovation

Sustainable products are often assumed to be simpler. In practice, they may be more technically demanding. Bare Necessities describes an R&D process that involves internal prototyping, customer testing with loyal user cohorts, third-party lab validation for safety and stability, and certification-based testing, as required. Because it avoids conventional preservatives, plastics, and standard stabilisers, the formulation must be aligned with alternative packaging systems. For moisture-sensitive products, the company reports extensive experimentation before arriving at a tree-resin-lined compostable paper solution that balanced durability with biodegradability. Responsible innovation still requires patience, capital, and technical capability.

Measuring Impact and Accountability

Between July 2016 and early 2026, the company reports selling 505,958 products. Using its internal methodology, this equates to 83,066,343 single-use plastic equivalents avoided and 375,031 kilograms of waste prevented from entering landfills or waterways. The figures are self-reported, though the company states that annual impact data is reviewed as part of B Corp recertification processes.

Such metrics necessarily depend on assumptions about product substitution and customer usage patterns, so they should be interpreted cautiously. Nonetheless, the discipline of attempting measurement remains notable in sectors where many firms still disclose little beyond conventional financial indicators.

Education as Growth Strategy

During the 2020 pandemic disruption, the company launched Bare Learning, an online platform offering courses on Zero Waste Living 101, Building Blocks of Sustainability, and Introduction to the Circular Economy. In 2021, UNESCO recognised the initiative as a Climate Action Resource. Enrolments have since exceeded 120,000.

The platform later expanded into workshops, consulting, and customised corporate programs. Organisations including JPMorgan Chase, Stryker, Cognizant, Flipkart, IKEA, Hindustan Unilever, Coursera and Brigade Group have engaged with these initiatives.

This suggests a more sophisticated model than simply selling products. Many sustainable brands enter markets where demand is weak or poorly informed. Bare Learning treats education as market-building infrastructure.

Inclusion Inside the Operating Model

Bare Necessities has also embedded social objectives into core operations. Its women-led manufacturing structure was an intentional founding decision aimed at creating safer, skill-building employment pathways for women from underserved communities. The company notes that what began as a personal value evolved into an organisational strength, shaping ownership and culture.

It has also partnered with Hasiru Dala to create employment links with waste-picker communities and participate in career fairs. For many firms, inclusion remains peripheral. This case suggests it is more durable when built into hiring and production systems.

What Larger Firms Should Learn

Bare Necessities remains small relative to India’s consumer economy. Its significance lies less in market share than in experimentation. It has tested whether consumers will adopt low-waste alternatives, whether education can create demand, whether circular systems can function commercially, whether impact can be measured credibly, and whether inclusive employment can be integrated into operations.

For larger companies, the message is direct: responsible business does not add CSR later. It requires redesigning products, supply chains, incentives, and capabilities from the start.

Download the Beyond the Bin: What Bare Necessities Reveals About the Future of Responsible Business in India Case Study:

Useful links:

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• Read a related article: The Next Frontier of Responsible Business Leadership: Insights from Business School Deans
• Download this and other case studies in the special issue Global Voice magazine #36
• Discover the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore | IIMB
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