HUL to focus on category growth, investment in high-growth brands

Unilever stated that it sees India as a key market with no headwinds.

Fast-moving consumer Goods (FMCG) maker Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) will focus on growth in categories including food and nutrition, making gorwth its priority over margins. Parent Unilever has also stressed on investments on its brands across categories.

In the near to mid-term, HUL has pegged EBITDA margin at 22-23 per cent, down from the earlier estimate of 23-24 per cent, sacrificing margins to the imperatives of volume expansion.

“In Asia Pacific Africa, our biggest region, the underlying sales growth of 2.0 per cent was also subdued. Our India business grew 3 per cent, driven by underlying volume growth in Home Care and Beauty & Well-being, while increasing market share during a period of modest market growth. We expect conditions to improve in the mid-term following recent fiscal and monetary stimulus,” said Fernando Fernandez, Chief Executive Officer of Unilever, in an analyst call.

India a key market

However, Unilever has also stated that it sees India as a key market with no headwinds. The FMCG maker believes that the Indian market has potential tailwinds with benefits coming from government incentives, tax relief, lower food and lower oil inflation.

“India has been a consistent performer for us. It has been gaining shares for the last three years, and there is a lot to play for. We have strong positions in Home Care and Hair, where we will invest and accelerate. In some of our core, we have to address Lifebuoy, which in the short term will mean we need to invest in these brands and in some categories we are seeing competitive intensity go up. And it happens, there are periods when the dial is down, but the long-term economics of that market prevail, and we are well positioned to do that, and in defending some of these categories, we will be unblinking. There is only one place that we need to address, which is Food. We are very confident both in the growth profile as well as in the margin profile for India,” said Srinivas Phatak, Acting Chief Financial Officer of Unilever.

Growth plans

The company plans to grow its category consumption by geographical expansion and investment in nutrition drinks.

“Our focus is to revitalise Horlicks, contemporary to the needs of mothers and kids. We are also going to double down on our business of adult nutrition, which is ₹500 crore, and we think we can do better in the segment by doubling medical marketing, investing in chemists, revamping and refocusing on the high-growth part of the portfolio. Boost is an energy brand, and we see growth into ready-to-drink format and geographical expansion, and we are doubling down to drive the category,” said CEO and MD Rohit Jawa.

Published on April 25, 2025