Hindustan Unilever

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is a British-owned Indian consumer goods company headquartered in Mumbai.[3] It is a subsidiary of the British company Unilever. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents, personal care products, water purifiers and other fast-moving consumer goods (FMCGs).

Indian Unilever Limited
TypePublic
ISININE030A01027
IndustryConsumer goods
PredecessorIndian Vanaspati Manufacturing Company (1931–1956)
Lever Brothers India Limited (1933–1956)
United Traders Limited (1935–1956)
Hindustan Lever Limited (1956–2007)
Founded1933 (1933)
Headquarters
Mumbai, Maharashtra
,
India
Key people
Rohit Jawa (CEO)[1]
ProductsFoods, cleaning agents, personal care, skin care and water purifiers
RevenueIncrease ₹61,092 crore (US$7.7 billion) (2023)[2]
Increase ₹13,409 crore (US$1.7 billion) (2023)[2]
Increase ₹10,143 crore (US$1.3 billion) (2023)[2]
Total assetsIncrease ₹73,087 crore (US$9.2 billion) (2023)[2]
Total equityIncrease ₹50,522 crore (US$6.3 billion) (2023)[2]
Number of employees
21,000 (2020)[2]
ParentUnilever plc (61.90%)
Websitewww.hul.co.in

HUL was established in 1931 as Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Co. Following a merger of constituent groups in 1956, it was renamed Hindustan Lever Limited. The company was renamed again in June 2007 as Hindustan Unilever Limited.[4]

Hindustan Unilever has been at the helm of a lot of controversies, such as dumping highly toxic mercury-contaminated waste in regular dumps, contaminating the land and water of Kodaikanal. (See: Kodaikanal mercury poisoning). The British company also faced major flak for an advertising campaign attacking the Hindu pilgrimage site at Kumbh Mela, calling it a "place where old people get abandoned,"[5][6] a move that was termed racist and insensitive.[5]

As of 2019, Hindustan Unilever's portfolio had more than 50 product brands in 14 categories. The company has 21,000 employees and recorded sales of ₹34,619 crores in FY2017–18.[3]

In December 2018, HUL announced its acquisition of GlaxoSmithKline India's consumer business for US$3.8 billion in an all equity merger deal with a 1:4.39 ratio.[7][8] However the integration of GSK's 3,800 employees remained uncertain as HUL stated there was no clause for retention of employees in the deal.[8] In April 2020, HUL completed its merger with GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Healthcare (GSKCH India) after completing all legal procedures.[9] In December 2022, HUL's market cap was Rs. 638548.42 crore.[10]

Presence

Hindustan Unilever's corporate headquarters are located in Andheri, Mumbai. The campus is spread over 12.5 acres of land and houses over 1,600 employees. Some of the facilities available to the employees include a convenience store, a food court, an occupational health centre, a gym, a sports & recreation centre and a child day care centre.[11] The Campus is designed by Mumbai-based architecture firm Kapadia Associates.[12]

The company's previous headquarters were located in Backbay Reclamation, Mumbai at the Lever House, where it was housed for more than 46 years.[13]

The Hindustan Unilever Research Centre (HURC) was set up in 1966 in Mumbai, and Unilever Research India in Bangalore in 1997. In 2006, the company's research facilities were brought together at a single site in Bangalore.[14]

Kodaikanal Lake, the most popular tourist attraction in South India, was contaminated following Unilever's illegal dumping of mercury.[15]

Controversies

Mercury pollution
Main article: Kodaikanal mercury poisoning

In 2001 a thermometer factory in Kodaikanal run by Hindustan Unilever dumped glass contaminated with mercury in C. Raj Kumar, and selling it on to scrap merchants unable to deal with it appropriately.[16] Protests by local NGOs and Greenpeace lead to the shutting of the factory in March 2001.[17] After protest by activists led by Deepak Malghan of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore Hindustan Unilever admitted before court to being guilty in the case in 2010.[18][19]

Skin lightening creams
Main article: Glow & Lovely (cosmetics)

Hindustan Unilever's "Glow & Lovely" is the leading skin-lightening cream for women in India.[20] The company had to cease television advertisements for the product in 2007. Advertisements depicted depressed, dark-complexioned women, who had been ignored by employers and men, suddenly finding new boyfriends and glamorous careers after the cream had lightened their skin.[21] In 2008, Hindustan Unilever made former Miss World Priyanka Chopra a brand ambassador for Pond's,[22] and she then appeared in a mini-series of television commercials for another skin lightening product, 'White Beauty', alongside Saif Ali Khan and Neha Dhupia; these advertisements, showing Priyanka's face with a clearly darker complexion against the visibly fairer Neha Dhupia, were widely criticised for perpetuating racism[23] and lowering the self-esteem of women and girls throughout India who were misled by HUL to believe that they needed to be white to be beautiful. The company rebranded the cream from Fair and Lovely to Glow and Lovely, removing the word Fair from the brand.

Triclosan

Several academic papers have pointed out the firm's continued use of the antibacterial agent Triclosan ('Active B') in India because it is under review by the American Food and Drug Administration (US FDA).[24]

Kumbh Mela ad

In March 2019, HUL's advertisement for its beverage Brooke Bond Red Label tea was criticised on social media. A company tweet referred to the Kumbh Mela as a place where elderly people get abandoned by their family members.[25][26] This resulted in a severe backlash in the form of an adverse hashtag trending on Twitter '#BoycottHindustanUnilever'.[27]

Awards

The Institute of Competitiveness, India, has recognized Hindustan Unilever Limited's Project Shakti for ‘Creating Shared Value’ and bestowed upon the company the Porter Prize for 2014.[28] It ranked number one on the Forbes list of ‘Most Innovative Companies’ across the globe for 2014.[29] It also received an award as a 'Conscious Capitalist of the Year' at the 2013 Forbes India Leadership Awards.[30] Unilever and was declared the fourth most Respected Company in India in a survey conducted by Business World in 2013.[31]

As per a 2015 Nielsen Campus Track-business school survey, Hindustan Unilever emerged among the top employers of choice for B-school students graduating that year. It has often been called a 'Dream Employer' for application by B-School students in India.[32][33][34][35][36] In 2012, HUL was recognised as one of the world's most innovative companies by Forbes. With a ranking of number 6, it was the highest ranked FMCG company.[37]

In 2011, HUL was named the most innovative company in India by Forbes and ranked 6th in the top 10 list of most innovative companies in the world.[38] Hindustan Unilever Ltd received the National Award for Excellence in Corporate Governance 2011 of the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) for excellence in corporate governance.[39]

HUL was ranked 47th in The Brand Trust Report 2014 published by Trust Research Advisory. 36 HUL brands also featured in the list including Lux, Dove, Lipton, Vim, Kissan, Bru, Rexona, Close Up, Clinic Plus, Pond's, Knorr, and Pepsodent among others.[40]

HUL has also emerged as the top employer of choice among the top six Indian Institutes of Management (IIMA, B, C, L, K and I).

In 2007, Hindustan Unilever was rated as the most respected company in India for the past 25 years by Businessworld, one of India's leading business magazines.[41] The rating was based on a compilation of the magazine's annual survey of India's most reputed companies over the past 25 years.

HUL is one of the country's largest exporters; it has been recognised as a Golden Super Star Trading House by the Government of India.[42]

Brands and products

HUL is the market leader in Indian consumer products with presence in over 20 consumer categories such as soaps, tea, detergents and shampoos amongst others with over 700 million Indian consumers using its products. Sixteen of HUL's brands featured in the ACNielsen Brand Equity list of 100 Most Trusted Brands Annual Survey (2014), carried out by Brand Equity, a supplement of The Economic Times.[43]

Food

Homecare
  • Active Wheel detergent
  • Cif Cream Cleaner
  • Comfort fabric softeners
  • Domex disinfectant/toilet cleaner
  • Love & Care wash care
  • Nature Protect disinfectant surface cleaner[48]
  • Rin detergents and bleach
  • Sunlight detergent and colour care
  • Surf Excel detergent and gentle wash
  • Vim dishwash
  • Magic – Water Saver[49][50]

Source:[51]

Personal care
  • Aviance Beauty Solutions
  • Axe deodorant, aftershave lotion and soap
  • LEVER Ayush Therapy ayurvedic health care and personal care products
  • International breeze
  • Brylcreem hair cream and hair gel
  • Clear anti-dandruff hair products
  • Clinic Plus shampoo and oil
  • Close Up toothpaste
  • Dove skin & hair care range: bar, lotions, creams and anti-perspirant deodorants
  • Denim shaving products
  • Dermalogica
  • Elle 18
  • Find Your Happy Place
  • Glow and Lovely, skin lightening cream
  • Hamam
  • Indulekha
  • Lakmé beauty products and salons
  • Lifebuoy soaps and handwash range
  • Liril 2000 soap
  • Lux soap, body wash and deodorant
  • Nature Protect
  • Pears soap, body wash
  • Pepsodent toothpaste
  • Pond's talcs and creams
  • Rexona
  • Sunsilk shampoo
  • Sure anti-perspirant
  • Vaseline petroleum jelly, skincare lotions
  • TRESemmé[52]
  • TIGI

Source:[53]

Water purifier
  • Pureit

See also

References
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