A friend sent me a photo last month: the back of a baby lotion bottle, shot in a chemist's shop, one line circled in red — “Mfd. by … for …”. Was that a red flag, she wanted to know. Short answer first, then I'll show my working. Almost everything worth knowing about a baby skincare brand in India sits in three places on the pack: the manufacturing licence number, the mandatory declarations, and whether the brand can name the exact test behind each claim it prints. The front of the bottle is design. The back is evidence.
I've spent the last few years on the other side of that label. Writing specifications, standing in our facility in Nagpur while a batch is mixed, arguing with my own team over whether a preservative sits at 0.9% or 1%. What follows is the check I'd run as a buyer, in the order I'd run it. (If you're still putting the first-year kit together, our complete guide to newborn essentials and gifting covers what you actually need. This one is about the brands behind it.)
At a glance
- Every India-made cosmetic must show a manufacturing licence number plus the manufacturer's full name and address on the pack.
- “Manufactured by X for Y” means the brand doesn't own the factory. Legal, very common, still worth knowing.
- “Chemical-free”, “toxin-free” and “100% natural” are misleading claim types under India's cosmetic labelling rules and consumer-protection guidelines.
- “Dermatologically tested” only tells you a test happened. Not how many people, not how long, not what was measured.
- If a brand can answer “what did you measure, on whom, for how long?” in one email, that reply is worth more than the whole front label.
What licence does a baby skincare brand in India actually need?
Skincare is regulated as a cosmetic, under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act read with the Cosmetics Rules, 2020. To make cosmetics for sale or distribution, a manufacturer needs a licence from the State Licensing Authority. That number has to appear on the pack. Look for “Mfg. Lic. No.” or “M.L. No.”, usually in small type near the batch details at the bottom of the back label.
There is no separate baby licence. The same one covers a baby lotion and an adult face cream. That matters more than it sounds. A licence says the site is registered and can be inspected. It does not mean anyone in government read that particular formula and approved it, the way a medicine is approved. So “Govt. approved” splashed across a front label is close to meaningless. The number, the address it maps to, and what the brand does inside that address are the real signal.
Imported products run on a different set of papers: an import registration issued by CDSCO, plus the importer's name, address and registration number on the label, and the country of origin. Order an imported baby wash off a marketplace and you'll sometimes find none of it. No Indian importer, no registration line, no MRP sticker with consumer-care details. That's grey-channel stock. It may well be genuine. But if it isn't, nobody in India is accountable for it.
The label, line by line
Turn the bottle over and work down this list. One thing missing is a question worth asking. Three or four missing is a pattern.
| What's on the label | What it actually tells you |
|---|---|
| Manufacturing licence number | A licensed site made it. Missing on an India-made pack? Walk away. |
| Name and full address of the manufacturer | Who is physically accountable. A PO box or a city-only address is a dodge. |
| Batch number, date of manufacture, best-before | Traceability. This is how a batch gets recalled when something goes wrong. |
| Complete ingredient list (packs above 60 g/60 ml) | Ingredients above 1% appear in descending order of weight, so position on the list matters. |
| Net quantity and MRP | Basic legal metrology. Missing means the pack wasn't built for Indian retail. |
| Consumer care contact | Whether anyone answers. Test it before you need it. |
| “Manufactured by X for Y” or “Marketed by” | The brand on the front didn't make it. More on this below. |
That last line is the one my friend had circled, and it deserves a straight answer rather than a scare. Contract manufacturing, where a brand designs a product and a third-party factory produces it, is legal, ordinary, and used by some very good companies. What it costs you is control. The brand doesn't pick the raw-material vendor. It doesn't set the batch size. It often doesn't know what ran on that mixer yesterday. When the brand's address is in Bengaluru and the manufacturer is a different company in Himachal, you are buying from a marketer. Fair enough, plenty of people do. Just ask how often anyone from the brand is actually on the floor.
We went the other way. Janma is made in our own GMP-certified facility, which is why I can tell you what's in a batch and why it's in there. Owning a plant has its own trade-offs, and I won't pretend it makes us better people. It does mean a question about a formulation gets answered by me instead of forwarded.
Which claims survive a follow-up question?
This is where most of the money goes to nothing. A claim is only as good as the question it survives, so here are the questions.
- “Dermatologically tested” — a dermatologist supervised a test. It says nothing about the result, the number of subjects, or how long it ran. Patch test or in-use test? How many people? Over what period?
- “Clinically tested” / “in-vivo tested” — done on real human skin rather than in a beaker. Stronger. Still incomplete until you know what was measured.
- “Hypoallergenic” — no statutory definition in India, so it is a marketing word. A brand can still make it mean something by explaining what they left out, and why.
- “Chemical-free”, “toxin-free”, “100% natural” — misleading claim types under India's cosmetic labelling rules and the consumer authority's guidelines on greenwashing. Water is a chemical. So is the oil in your malish bottle.
- “pH balanced” — balanced to what? If there's no number, there's no claim.
- Any fairness or lightening suggestion on a baby product — close the tab. Restricted in advertising, and indefensible on an infant.
The question I'd put to any brand, mine included: what exactly did you measure, on how many subjects, for how long? For our balm the answer is specific. Visible improvement in the look of diaper-area redness in 7 days, in an in-vivo study on a 12-month-old subject applying twice daily, and visibly calmer skin in as little as 1 day in 24- and 36-month subjects. A separate lab study showed increased Keratin-10 and Filaggrin expression, which is the basis on which we say it helps support the skin barrier. Those are small studies, and I'd rather say so than dress them up. If a brand's answer is vaguer than that, the claim is doing more work than the evidence behind it.
Then there's certification. BIS compliance, an FDA cosmetic manufacturing licence, GMP certification, a recognised organic certification — each one means an outside body came and looked. Ask which body, and at what scope. “Certified” with nobody named is a logo.
Ten minutes tonight, with the bottles you already own
Do this before you buy anything new.
- Turn each bottle around and find the manufacturing licence number. Missing on an India-made pack? Stop using it on the baby.
- Read the “Manufactured by” and “Marketed by” lines. Different companies? Note it, then decide how much you mind.
- Check that batch number, manufacturing date and best-before are printed on the pack itself, not stuck over with a sticker.
- Read the ingredient list to the last line. Find the preservative and the fragrance declaration.
- Email or DM the brand three questions: which facility, what test, which certifying body. Give them 48 hours.
- Check the marketplace listing carries the same declarations as the physical pack. E-commerce listings are required to show them too.
Buying it as a gift, before you can read the label
Awkward one, this, because a good half of newborn skincare in India arrives as a gift. You're ordering online for somebody else's baby, sometimes before the baby is even born. (If that last part is nagging at you, we've written honestly about buying baby things before delivery.)
My shortcut for gifting: skip anything you can't verify online. Prefer a brand whose website puts the full ingredient list and the manufacturing detail on the product page itself. A listing with nothing but lifestyle photos has already told you what you need to know. Go unscented or lightly fragranced rather than heavily perfumed. And pick a wash and a moisturiser over a nine-piece set, because most of a big set never gets opened. Our notes on godh bharai gifts new mothers actually use and on what earns its place in the hospital bag go deeper into which pieces get finished and which sit in a cupboard.
When to see a doctor
Reading labels is no substitute for a paediatrician. Go and see one if your baby's skin reacts to a new product with spreading redness, swelling, blistering or weeping. Go if a rash isn't settling after three or four days of simple, gentle care. Go if there's fever or pus, or your baby seems unwell alongside a skin problem, or if dryness and itching are breaking sleep night after night. And if a product does cause a reaction, hold on to the pack. The batch number on it is exactly what a doctor or the brand will need.
If you'd like to see what all of this looks like on an actual pack, the back label of our Complete Care gift hamper is a fair place to start your comparison.
In summary
- Find the manufacturing licence number and the manufacturer's full address on every India-made pack — no licence number means no purchase.
- Read the "Manufactured by" and "Marketed by" lines: different companies mean the brand doesn't own the factory.
- Check batch number, manufacturing date and best-before are printed on the pack, and read the ingredient list to the last line for the preservative.
- Treat "chemical-free", "toxin-free", "hypoallergenic" and unnumbered "pH balanced" as marketing until the brand explains them.
- Ask any brand what it measured, on how many subjects and for how long — a specific answer is the real proof, and see a paediatrician for any reaction or a rash that won't settle.
Frequently asked questions
Is a cosmetic manufacturing licence number mandatory on baby products in India?
Yes. Cosmetics made in India must carry the manufacturing licence number along with the manufacturer's name and full address, batch number, manufacturing date and best-before. It usually appears in small type near the batch details on the back label. If an India-made baby product shows no licence number at all, treat that as a serious reason not to use it on a newborn.
What does "Mfd. by X for Y" mean on a baby product label?
It means the brand on the front did not manufacture the product — a third-party factory did, to the brand's order. This is legal and common. What it changes is control: the brand doesn't own the line, the raw-material vendors or the batch schedule. It isn't automatically bad, but it's fair to ask the brand how closely they oversee production.
Is "chemical-free" or "toxin-free" allowed on a baby product in India?
Claims like chemical-free, toxin-free and 100% natural are treated as misleading under India's cosmetic labelling rules and the consumer authority's guidance on greenwashing. Every ingredient, including water and cold-pressed oils, is a chemical. A brand using that language is either careless with regulation or hoping you won't check — neither is reassuring on a baby's skin.
How can I check whether a brand's claims are actually tested?
Ask one question: what exactly did you measure, on how many subjects, and for how long? A brand with real testing answers with a parameter, a subject count, a duration and a study type — patch test, in-use test or in-vivo study. Vague answers, or a switch to talking about ingredients instead of results, tell you the claim is running ahead of the evidence.
Do imported baby skincare products need extra label information?
Yes. An imported cosmetic sold in India should show the importer's name, address and import registration number, the country of origin, and the standard Indian declarations including MRP and consumer-care details. Marketplace stock missing all of that is usually grey-channel — it may be genuine, but no one in India is accountable if it isn't.
Does a more expensive baby brand mean a safer one?
No. Price reflects packaging, marketing and margin at least as much as formulation. Some of the most expensive baby products on Indian shelves are contract-manufactured to a standard brief. Judge on the licence, the completeness of the label, the ingredient list read to the last line, and whether the brand can name its testing — not on the price or the prettiness of the bottle.
