Hindustan Unilever

Overview

Hindustan Unilever Limited

type	Public company
founded	1933
location city	Mumbai, Maharashtra
location country	India
traded as	bse: 500696 nse: HINDUNILVR BSE SENSEX constituent NSE NIFTY 50 constituent
predecessor	Indian Vanaspati Manufacturing Company (1931–1956) Lever Brothers India Limited (1933–1956) United Traders Limited (1935–1956) Hindustan Lever Limited (1956–2007)
key people	Priya Nair (CEO and MD)‡R1R‡
isin	isin: INE030A01027
industry	Fast-moving consumer goods
products	Foods · cleaning agents · personal care · skin care · dietary supplements · protein supplements
revenue	inr 627000000000 (2024)‡R2R‡
operating income	inr 139000000000 (2024)‡R2R‡
net income	inr 103000000000 (2024)‡R2R‡
assets	inr 785000000000 (2024)‡R2R‡
equity	inr 514000000000 (2024)‡R2R‡
num employees	26,667 (2025) (including 18,465 workers)‡R3R‡
parent	Unilever (61.90%)
homepage	https://www.hul.co.in/

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is an Indian fast-moving consumer goods company, headquartered in Mumbai.[4] It is a subsidiary of the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever. Its products include foods, beverages, cleaning agents, personal care products and other consumer staples.

The company was established in India 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.[5]

Hindustan Unilever has been at the helm of many controversies, such as dumping highly toxic mercury-contaminated waste in regular dumps, contaminating the land and water of Kodaikanal. The British-Dutch company also faced major flak for an advertising campaign covering the Hindu pilgrimage site at Kumbh Mela in a negative light, calling it a "place where old people get abandoned,"[6][7]

Controversies

Mercury pollution

In 2001 a thermometer factory in Kodaikanal run by Hindustan Unilever dumped glass contaminated with mercury and selling it to scrap merchants.[16] Protests by local NGOs and Greenpeace lead to the shutting of the factory in March 2001.[17] The issue has since snowballed into a controversy impacting the reputation of the company and led to a series of regulatory and legal confrontations. The issue was eventually resolved in 2016 through an out of court settlement between the company and the affected ex-workers.[18][19]

Skin lightening creams

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]

Hindustan Unilever

Presence

Controversies

Mercury pollution

Skin lightening creams

Triclosan

Kumbh Mela ad

Brands

Food

Homecare

Personal care

See also

External links

References