VLCC Franchise Cost in India: Rs 90 Lakh to 1.2 Crore, an 18% Royalty and an Undefined FRR

VLCC says a Wellness Center franchise costs Rs 90 lakh to 1.2 crore for 1,800 to 2,200 sq ft of carpet area, with a Rs 25 lakh franchise fee and a royalty of "18% + FRR". The page never defines FRR, never says what the 18% is charged on, and does not say whether GST or working capital come on top. Those three gaps matter more than the headline total, because royalty is the cost you pay every month for as long as the centre runs. Below is what VLCC publishes, what we could add up ourselves, and what its credit rating says about the company behind the offer.

The cost table VLCC publishes

We re-read VLCC's franchise page on 12 November 2026 and compared it with the checked VLCC listing. The brand's own figures:

Item	What VLCC states
Carpet area	1,800 to 2,200 sq ft
Franchise fee	Rs 25 lakh, "based on the potential of a location / city"
Equipment	"Approx 35-40 Lac", varies with selection
Interiors and fixtures	Rs 1,500 to 2,000 per sq ft
Miscellaneous	Rs 5 lakh
Total	Rs 90 lakh to 1.2 crore
Royalty	18% + FRR (based on city potential)

The page also says the owner and team are trained at the centre before opening. It gives no length of training, no agreement term and no renewal terms.

Do the parts add up to the total?

Our own arithmetic: interiors at Rs 1,500 on 1,800 sq ft is Rs 27 lakh, and Rs 2,000 on 2,200 sq ft is Rs 44 lakh. Add the fee, equipment and miscellaneous and the parts come to about Rs 92 lakh at the low end and Rs 1.14 crore at the high end. That sits inside VLCC's range, so the total is consistent with its own line items.

What the total leaves out is the real question.

Nothing on the page covers rent deposit, licences, the first months of salaries, or marketing before the centre fills up. The fee is also tied to city potential, so Rs 25 lakh may not be the figure quoted to you. Ask for an itemised quote for your exact city and ask whether the fee and equipment are quoted before or after GST.

What an 18% royalty means in rupees

The base is not stated, so the table below only shows the arithmetic at example sales levels. These are not VLCC data, and the FRR would be added on top.

Example monthly sales	18% of sales	Per year
Rs 5 lakh	Rs 90,000	Rs 10.8 lakh
Rs 10 lakh	Rs 1.8 lakh	Rs 21.6 lakh
Rs 15 lakh	Rs 2.7 lakh	Rs 32.4 lakh

Whether the base is gross billing, net of GST, or net of package discounts changes these numbers a lot for a services business that sells prepaid programmes. Get the royalty clause and the FRR definition in writing before paying the fee.

An older VLCC site still shows different terms

VLCC's older franchise site, carrying a 2017 copyright line and still online, described a franchise-owned, franchise-operated model with a 15% royalty on monthly turnover, lower investment totals, and a salon format of 800 to 1,000 sq ft at Rs 30 to 32 lakh. The current page does not repeat any of that. The current page also offers a "VLCC Salon" option in its enquiry form but shows the same Wellness Center table under it, so no separate salon price is published. Do not rely on the older figures, and ask which terms apply today.

What ICRA says about the company

ICRA's rating note of 29 October 2025 cut VLCC Limited to [ICRA]BBB (Stable) from BBB+. The consolidated group, which includes the products and international units and not just the centres, reported a loss after tax of Rs 146.3 crore in FY25 (provisional), after Rs 40.6 crore in FY24 and Rs 60.3 crore in FY23, on operating income of about Rs 952 crore. ICRA put debt at 7.1 times operating profit, and operating margin at 9.5%, down from 23.0% in FY23. It noted that 47 clinics opened in FY25 were still making losses, and that the FY26 cost cuts need to prove durable.

These are group accounts, and they do not show what a single franchised centre earns. They do show the franchisor is under financial pressure while it sells new franchises, and Carlyle's stake in the company was 51.73% at 31 March 2025 per the same note. Separately, Storyboard18 reported in August 2026 that VLCC's managing director and group CEO Vikas Gupta would move to Himalaya from 23 September 2026.

How many VLCC centres are franchised?

ICRA counted 217 India wellness centres at 31 March 2025: 162 company-owned and 55 franchised, so roughly one in four. VLCC's About page claims 310 locations in 139 cities and 11 countries, which includes overseas centres. Our count of India centre pages in VLCC's own sitemap on 25 October 2026 was 200, and closed centres may still be listed. The franchised share is a minority, so ask to speak to several of the 55 about their sales and royalty bills.

One dispute to read before you sign

In June 2022 the Bombay High Court heard an application from a woman described as an "Infrastructure Provider" under a 2018 agreement for a VLCC centre in Mumbai. She says she invested about Rs 1.3 crore. The court only decided that the agreement's Delhi venue made Delhi the seat of arbitration and sent her there. It did not decide the dispute, and the court did not call her a franchisee. It is still a reason to check where disputes are heard and to read the agreement with a lawyer.

If you are comparing beauty and wellness formats, Lakme Salon, Naturals and Jawed Habib each show their own investment on their FranchiseChuno listing, with the source it was checked against.

Questions about the VLCC franchise

How much does a VLCC franchise cost? VLCC states Rs 90 lakh to 1.2 crore for a Wellness Center, including a Rs 25 lakh franchise fee, equipment and interiors. GST and working capital are not mentioned.

What royalty does VLCC charge? Its page says 18% plus an FRR based on city potential. Neither the FRR nor the base for the 18% is defined.

Does VLCC publish what a centre earns? No. There is no centre-level revenue, profit or payback on its pages. Ask existing franchisees for real monthly sales and costs, and see the full VLCC listing for the evidence behind each line.