Today Mary Kay Cosmetics announced the closing of its operations in India. The decision appears to made on the basis of the regulatory environment and the poor performance of the market. In December, a ban was proposed on multi-level marketing in India.

This announcement comes after Mary Kay Inc. invested $20 million into growing the market between 2007 and 2012.

This closure is good for women in India. But Mary Kay is still doing well overseas. China is still growing rapidly, and sometime in 2013, it will become Mary Kay’s largest market.

Read the announcement below:

Is Mary Kay Cosmetics celebrating or lamenting today’s article in the New York Times on their business in China? While the Mary Kay spin machine got its typical praise for the pink Cadillacs and the “unlimited opportunity,” the article also cited several criticisms of the multi-level marketing company.

China has over 200,000 Mary Kay consultants and sales directors, with 28,000 of them attending the Chinese version of Mary Kay’s Seminar in September. True to form, the gathering was about fluff rather than substance. Testimonials about Mary Kay changing lives and the presentation of a pink Cadillac were the focus.

This is an interesting article on the combination of religion and direct selling in China. China has strict rules against multi-level marketing, but companies are allowed to do “direct sales” if they have a license. Take a look at this and see what it’s like over there…

Mary Kay is targeting China for significant growth.

Remember the stories about Mary Kay Cosmetics peddling their sub-par products in China? Well the push is on to make China the company’s biggest market within 10 years. I can only surmise that this is because women in the U.S. are wising up.

Read this article from the Fort Wayne Journal Gazette about how Mary Kay Inc. is creating frontloading victims all over the world: