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Informist, Wednesday, Jun. 3, 2026

 

KOLKATA – Anticipating a stable consumer demand environment in the medium term despite past price hikes, Hindustan Unilever Ltd. is targeting a volume-led revenue growth in the ongoing financial year, the company said in its annual report for 2025-26 (Apr-Mar). 

 

It comes at a time when HUL, along with its peers, is faced with a high level of macro-economic volatility arising from the West Asia conflict, the Russia-Ukraine war, high rupee depreciation, and spiralling commodity costs. 

 

"With our strategic priorities firmly established and rapid execution underway, we are committed to ongoing investments that will drive sustainable, volume-led revenue growth and maintain our competitive edge", HUL said in the annual report. "We will closely monitor commodity and currency fluctuations, taking measured actions to preserve our price–value proposition while delivering robust end-to-end cost savings."

 

As a measure to maintain its profits and growth under cost pressures, HUL took cost control measures and also raised prices in the previous financial year. The company said that demand for mass products and premium products is increasing in India and it will strive to increase product premiumisation in the country in FY27. Earlier, its parent Unilever, Plc., had declared in an investors' conference that the company will launch global premium products in India at the correct time and opportunity. 

 

"While the external environment remains dynamic, we enter the next year with sharper strategic clarity, stronger fundamentals, and a clear conviction in the direction we are taking," Priya Nair, chief executive officer and managing director at HUL said in the annual report. 

 

In its annual report, HUL said during FY26, it expanded its value offerings through accessible pricing, smaller and mid-tier stock keeping units, and democratised formats across all business segments to ensure relevance for price-conscious households. This included the democratisation of skin care essentials such as moisturisers and sun-care products through access packs priced at INR 10. The company also introduced premium-quality laundry powder at INR 99, which helped upgrade mass consumers into superior formulation.

 

"We deepened our consumer segmentation approach - making it central to how we design propositions, shape markets, and win across channels. This is embedded in every decision we make, whether it's product, proposition, pricing, or the channel we use to reach and persuade consumers," Nair said. 

 

At the same time, HUL accelerated premiumisation through science-backed innovations and brand elevation across Simple, TRESemme, and Dove brands, alongside scaling the liquid detergent portfolio in home care and bodywash in skin cleansing. 

 

HUL also strengthened its presence in high-affinity beauty spaces through the introduction of Nexxus and Minimalist brands to expand its premium portfolio. 

 

"HUL modernised its core brands, invested behind channel-specific propositions for e-commerce and quick commerce, and used Social-first Demand Generation to deepen its appeal among aspiring consumers. This balanced strategy enabled HUL to serve both value-seeking and premium-seeking cohorts, ensuring broad-based relevance and growth," the company said in its annual report. 

 

The company will be investing INR 20 billion over the next two financial years to expand its manufacturing capacity in fast-growing premium categories across beauty and wellbeing and home care liquid products.

 

"We invested in building more desirable brands - premium, purpose-led, and culturally relevant. This was supported by a robust pipeline of science-led, consumer-backed innovations and amplified through digital-first demand generation," Nair said.

 

DISTRIBUTION EFFORTS

 

Amid the growing salience of e-commerce and quick commerce trade channels, HUL said it continues to view general trade as the bedrock of its distribution network and its core distribution strategy follows the "kirana-centric, distributor-inclusive" model.

 

"We are aggressively driving coverage expansion into the rural hinterlands to ensure our brands are unmissably available to every consumer. We have added 2 lakh (200,000) new stores to our reach during the year," HUL said in the annual report. 

 

To better serve diverse consumer needs, HUL is shifting its distribution strategy from a one-size-fits-all approach to a nuanced and customised route to market strategy. "By investing in dedicated infrastructure for speciality channels, we are unlocking growth frontiers that demand high expertise and specific shopping environments," HUL said.

 

Simultaneously, HUL is also tapping the open format stores, which are self-service outlets that require a fundamentally different execution style than traditional kiranas. The country's second-largest consumer goods company by revenue, established a dedicated team focused on driving sales execution across these stores. This team ensures world-class shelf-level execution, optimised assortments for browsing, and high-impact merchandising. 

 

"By utilising bespoke logistics and tailored sales expertise, we ensure our premium innovations are positioned exactly where discerning shoppers expect to find them," HUL said. 

 

At the same time, HUL is also strengthening its modern trade and e-commerce channels, which are the primary engines of its premiumisation strategy that allows the company to build and lead high-growth categories that cater to more urban consumer needs.

 

"Quick commerce is rapidly redefining the retail landscape in India by delivering essential and premium products in short timespan, meeting rising consumer expectations for speed and convenience", HUL said. "This immediacy boosts consumer satisfaction and loyalty, opening new consumption occasions. The channel doubled its turnover in FY 2025-26 and has emerged as a vital growth engine for the company."

 

Just like a specialised team created by the company to maximise sales from open-format stores, HUL also created a dedicated quick commerce team to capture rapid sales growth in instant deliveries. 

 

The company is also partnering with leading e-retailers and deploying data-driven marketing to ensure brand visibility and conversion in online-first environments.

 

Over the long term, India's FMCG opportunity remains compelling, underpinned by rising incomes, urbanisation, premium aspirations and digitalisation. "Staying anchored to our strategic priorities and executing with discipline will enable us to win competitively and sustain consistent, volume-led growth," HUL said.

 

For the March quarter, HUL reported net profit of INR 29.30 billion on revenue of INR 157.33 billion. Wednesday, shares of the company closed flat at INR 2.090.60 on the National Stock Exchange.  End

 

IST, or Indian Standard Time, is five-and-a-half hours ahead of GMT

 

Reported by Avishek Rakshit

Edited by Deepshikha Bhardwaj

 

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