Hindustan Unilever

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is a British-owned Indian final good 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).

Hindustan Unilever Limited

Company type	Public
Traded as	BSE: 500696 NSE: HINDUNILVR BSE SENSEX Constituent NSE NIFTY 50 Constituent
ISIN	INE030A01027
Industry	Consumer goods
Predecessor	Indian Vanaspati Manufacturing Company (1931–1956) Lever Brothers India Limited (1933–1956) United Traders Limited (1935–1956) Hindustan Lever Limited (1956–2007)
Founded	1933; 91 years ago (1933)
Headquarters	Mumbai, Maharashtra , India
Key people	Rohit Jawa (CEO)^[1]
Products	Foods cleaning agents personal care skin care water purifiers dietary supplements protein supplements
Revenue	₹62,707 crore (US$7.9 billion) (2024)^[2]
Operating income	₹13,924 crore (US$1.7 billion) (2024)^[2]
Net income	₹10,282 crore (US$1.3 billion) (2024)^[2]
Total assets	₹78,499 crore (US$9.8 billion) (2024)^[2]
Total equity	₹51,423 crore (US$6.4 billion) (2024)^[2]
Number of employees	21,000 (2020)^[2]
Parent	Unilever plc (61.90%)
Website	www.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.^[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, one of the most popular tourist attractions 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.^[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 Nielsen Corporation Brand Equity list of 100 Most Trusted Brands Annual Survey (2014), carried out by Brand Equity, a supplement of The Economic Times.^[43]

Food

• Annapurna salt and Atta (formerly known as Kissan Annapurna)
• Boost
• Bru coffee
• Brooke Bond (3 Roses, Taj Mahal, Taaza, Red Label) tea
• Kissan squashes, ketchups, juices and jams
• Lipton ice tea
• Knorr soups & meal makers and soupy noodles
• Kwality Wall's frozen dessert
• Hellmann's mayonnaise^[44]
• Magnum (ice cream)^[45]
• Cornetto Ice cream cone ^[46]
• Horlicks (Health Drink)^[47]

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
• V Wash feminine wash
• Vaseline petroleum jelly, skincare lotions
• TRESemmé^[52]
• TIGI

Source:^[53]

Water purifier

• Pureit

See also

• Brooke Bond Taj Mahal Tea House, Hindustan Unilever's first tea house restaurant
• Dalda, vegetable cooking oil brand started by HUL
• Kodaikanal mercury poisoning

References

1. "The Board of HUL". hul.co.in. HUL. from the original on 28 November 2018. Retrieved 25 September 2014.
2. "Hindustan Unilever Annual Reports" (PDF). bse.com.
3. "Introduction to HUL". HUL. from the original on 9 February 2017. Retrieved 12 November 2015.
4. Srinivasan, Lalitha (31 July 2007). "Transition to new name was smooth: HUL". Mumbai: The Financial Express. from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
5. "Hindustan Unilever faces flak over Red Label ad showing son 'abandoning' father at Kumbh Mela". cnbctv18.com. 7 March 2019. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
6. "#BoycottHindustanUnilever Trends After Ad On Kumbh Mela Faces Criticism". NDTV.com. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
7. "GSK Consumer Healthcare to merge with Hindustan Unilever: Here are 10 things you should know". www.businesstoday.in. 3 December 2018. from the original on 27 March 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
8. "HUL-GSK deal: 3,800 employees face uncertainty, decision awaited". www.businesstoday.in. 6 December 2018. from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
9. . Medical Dialogues. Archived from the original on 29 August 2012. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
10. "Top 100 stocks by Market Capitalization | BSE Listed stocks Market Capitalization". www.bseindia.com. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
11. "HUL moves to new campus | 2010 | Hindustan Unilever". Hindustan Unilever. from the original on 22 June 2012. Retrieved 12 July 2012.
12. "Designed for leverage - Livemint". livemint.com. 3 February 2010. from the original on 20 December 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
13. . Aifl.net. Archived from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
14. Overview of Research Centres on official website. Retrieved 12 August 2010 19 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine
15. . The Hindu. 29 September 2016 [August 23, 2007]. Archived from the original on 4 November 2007. Retrieved 6 June 2019.
16. Jayaraman, Nityanand (April 2001). . Multinational Monitor. Archived from the original on 27 July 2001. Retrieved 31 October 2013. - via Ban.org.
17. "Greenpeace wants probe into Kodaikanal mercury pollution". Times of India. 30 June 2002. from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 1 June 2020.
18. Hiddleston, Sarah (24 September 2010). . Frontline. The Hindu. Archived from the original on 4 November 2013. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
19. Jayaraman, Nityanand (31 July 2010). . Tehelka Magazine. Anant Media Pvt. Ltd. Archived from the original on 25 September 2012. Retrieved 31 October 2013.
20. Anushay Hossain, The Color Complex: Is the Fixation Really Fair? 1 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine, Sapna, 10 March 2008
21. Dhillon, Amrit (1 July 2009). . Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 12 July 2007. Retrieved 3 November 2013.
22. Priyanka Chopra is the new face of Ponds 26 May 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Thaindian News, 6 May 2008
23. Criticism in India over skin-whitening trend 1 March 2018 at the Wayback Machine, The Daily Telegraph, 10 July 2008
24. See for example Cross, Jamie; Street, Alice (August 2009) [2008]. (PDF). Anthropology Today. 25 (4): 4–9. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8322.2009.00675.x. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2012. Reprinted in Callan, Hilary; Street, Brian; Underdown, Simon, eds. (March 2013). Introductory Readings In Anthropology. Berghahn Books & The Royal Anthological Institute. pp. 232–40. ISBN 9780857459688. from the original on 15 February 2017. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
25. Ambwani, Meenakshi Verma (7 March 2019). "HUL in deep water over Kumbh-theme ad". @businessline. from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
26. "Hindustan Unilever faces backlash for calling Kumbh Mela 'place where old people get abandoned'". www.businesstoday.in. 7 March 2019. from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 9 March 2019.
27. "#BoycottHindustanUnilever Trends After Ad On Kumbh Mela Faces Criticism". NDTV.com. from the original on 25 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
28. "SWOT Analysis of Hindustan Unilever Limited". admeducation.com. ADM.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
29. "The World's most innovative companies". forbes. 31 October 2014. from the original on 4 December 2012. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
30. "Conscious Capitalist of the Year". ForbesIndia. 31 October 2013. from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
31. . Businessworld. Archived from the original on 14 May 2014.
32. Basu, Sreeradha D (13 February 2013). "Grooming people is in our genes, says HUL's Paranjpe". Economictimes. from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
33. "Hindustan Unilever Limited has emerged as the No.1 employer of choice for B-School students". Hindustan Unilever. from the original on 16 June 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
34. Choudhary, Vidhi (12 February 2013). "FMCG, management firms most preferred campus recruiters: Nielsen". LiveMint. from the original on 3 November 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
35. . Exchange4Media. 13 February 2013. Archived from the original on 16 February 2013.
36. Saraswathy, M. (13 February 2013). "HUL is employer of choice: Nielsen". Business Standard. from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 18 February 2013.
37. "The World's Most Innovative Companies". Forbes. from the original on 4 November 2012. Retrieved 7 November 2012.
38. "The World's Most Innovative Companies". Forbes. from the original on 11 February 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
39. "HUL, GAIL gets ICSI governance excellence awards" 3 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine. India Times. 23 December 2011.
40. . Archived from the original on 2 May 2015.
41. . businessworld.in. p. 2. Archived from the original on 25 August 2008. Retrieved 1 November 2013.
42. "Hindustan Unilever Ltd Background details about Company Profile". Indiainfoline.com. from the original on 21 November 2014. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
43. "Most Trusted Brands 2014". Economic Times. 22 October 2014. from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
44. "Hellmann's". Hindustan Unilever Limited website. from the original on 26 April 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
45. "Magnum Ice-cream". Hindustan Unilever Limited website. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
46. "Cornetto". Hindustan Unilever Limited website. from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
47. "Horlicks". Hindustan Unilever Limited website. from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2020.
48. "Nature Protect". Hindustan Unilever official website. from the original on 4 September 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2022.
49. "Magic – Water Saver". from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
50. "Magic – Water Saver". The Times of India. 25 June 2012. from the original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved 14 August 2012.
51. . Hindustan Unilever. Archived from the original on 22 December 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
52. "TRESemmé". Hindustan Unilever. from the original on 26 October 2014. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
53. . Hindustan Unilever. Archived from the original on 29 December 2011. Retrieved 10 February 2012.

External links

• Official website  
• To buy HUL pureit water purifier