Unilever to invest “disproportionately” in India, where it is building momentum

Fernando Fernandez, CEO, Unilever

FMCG giant Unilever said it is seeing improvement in the Indian market, with market share gains. Looking ahead, Chief Executive Officer Fernando Fernandez spoke of “disproportionate investment” in its two largest markets — The US and India — as one of its priorities.

While announcing its June quarter results, the company stated that the market conditions in India had improved, and growth for its Indian subsidiary Hindustan Unilever was led by the premium portfolio.

“We are building momentum in India, where we recently have a new head of business, Priya Nair, said Fernandez.

“After successfully led our beauty business, Priya has a deep understanding of our HPC business in India that she successfully ran for years. With a knowledge of the international market that is necessary to keep our portfolio in tune with consumer needs and channel shift already visible in the market,” Fernandez added.

HUL’s consolidated net profit rose to ₹2,768 crore, up from ₹2,612 crore a year earlier, while revenue grew to ₹16,323 crore from ₹15,532 crore, driven by underlying 4 per cent volume growth.

Its shares hit a 9-month high in intra-day trade, surging over 8 per cent to ₹2,727.5, before paring gains to close 1.3 per cent higher at ₹2,554.

Over the past 12 weeks, operations in India have seen improved volume stability, Unilever said.

“We see a clear sign of pickup in the emerging markets. In our last call, we mentioned no additional headwinds in India; tailwinds are coming through, given the macros, disposable income, and various measures taken by the government. That is where it started to play. On a macro basis, we see volume stability, and if you see the market in the last 12 weeks, we see an improvement. Further, there has been significant work in terms of the portfolio transformation, where we are investing behind the market makers beyond the core portfolio. When we are starting to see a step-up in volume, we are also investing behind both the core and in the future format,” said Srinivas Phatak, Acting Chief Financial Officer of Unilever.

Segment growth

Unilever stated that it is confident of gaining market share in the country.

“The important element is that it has a good performance in home care, and there is a high single-digit volume. We have seen the headline growth in beauty and personal care, and some of the foods are sequentially getting better. From a channel perspective, strong plans, not just in the general trade but in quick commerce and e-commerce. In e-commerce, our sales have doubled and are a larger contributor. It starts to become a tailwind for us when we look at this growth opportunity. We feel quite confident and comfortable with India’s growth trajectory, and we expect it to do well. We will gain shares, and we are confident about India,” added Srinivas Phatak.

Published on August 1, 2025