HINDUSTAN UNILEVER LIMITED

INTRODUCTION

Hindustan Unilever Limited (abbreviated to HUL), formerly

Hindustan Lever Limited , is India's largest consumer products
company and was formed in 1933 as Lever Brothers India
Limited. It is currently headquartered in Mumbai, India and its
41,000 employees are headed by Harish Manwani, the non-
executive chairman of the board. HUL is the market leader in
Indian products such as tea, soaps, detergents, as its products
have become daily household name in India. The Anglo-Dutch
company Unilever owns a majority stake in Hindustan Unilever
Limited.

The company was renamed in late June 2007 to "Hindustan

Unilever Limited" to provide the optimum balance between
maintaining the heritage of the Company and the future benefits
and synergies of global alignment with the corporate name of
"Unilever".

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest fast moving

consumer goods company, with leadership in Home & Personal
Care Products and Foods & Beverages. HUL's brands, spread
across 20 distinct consumer categories, touch the lives of two out
of three Indians. They endow the company with a scale of
combined volumes of about 4 million tonnes and sales of
Rs.13,718 crores.

MISSION

Unilever's mission is to add Vitality to life. Meet everyday needs

for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with brands that help
people feel good, look good and get more out of life.

It is a mission HUL shares with its parent company, Unilever,

which holds 52.10% of the equity. A Fortune 500 transnational,
Unilever sells Foods and Home and Personal Care brands in about
100 countries worldwide.

ORIGIN

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In the summer of 1888, visitors to the Kolkata harbour noticed
crates full of Sunlight soap bars, embossed with the words "Made
in England by Lever Brothers". With it, began an era of marketing
branded Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG).

Soon after followed Lifebuoy in 1895 and other famous brands like
Pears, Lux and Vim. Vanaspati was launched in 1918 and the
famous Dalda brand came to the market in 1937.

In 1931, Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, Hindustan

Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, followed by Lever Brothers
India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited (1935). These
three companies merged to form HUL in November 1956; HUL
offered 10% of its equity to the Indian public, being the first
among the foreign subsidiaries to do so. Unilever now holds
52.10% equity in the company. The rest of the shareholding is
distributed among about 360,675 individual shareholders and
financial institutions.

MANAGEMENT STRUCTURE

Hindustan Unilever Limited is India's largest Fast Moving

Consumer Goods (FMCG) company. It is present in Home &
Personal Care and Foods & Beverages categories. HUL and Group
companies have about 15,000 employees, including 1200
managers.

The fundamental principle determining the organisation structure

is to infuse speed and flexibility in decision-making and
implementation, with empowered managers across the company’s
nationwide operations.

BOARD
The Board of Directors as repositories of the corporate powers act
as a guardian to the Company as also the protectors of
shareholder’s interest.

This Apex body comprises of a Non- Executive Chairman, four

whole time Directors and five independent Non – Executive
Directors. The Board of the Company represents the optimum mix
of professionalism, knowledge and experience.

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Management Committee
The day-to-day management of affairs of the Company is vested
with the Management Committee which is subjected to the overall
superintendence and control of the Board. The Management
Committee is headed by Mr. Nitin Paranjpe and has functional
heads as its members representing various functions of the
Company.

Leadership

HUL has produced numerous business leaders for corporate India.

It is referred to as a 'CEO Factory' in the Indian press for the same
reasons. It's leadership building potential was recognized when it
was ranked 4th in the Hewitt Global Leadership Survey 2007 with
only GE, P&G and Nokia ranking ahead of HUL in the ability to
churn out leaders with regularity.

Controversy

Hindustan Lever was forced to withdraw television advertisements

for its women's skin-lightening cream, Fair and Lovely.
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

BRANDS

HOME AND PERSONAL CARE

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 Lux Breeze
Lifebuoy Dove
Liril Pears
Hamam Rexona

Surf Excel Fair & Lovely

Rin Pond's
Wheel Vaseline
Aviance

Sunsilk Naturals Pepsodent

Clinic Closeup

Axe Lakme
Rexona

Ayush
FOODS

Brooke Bond Brooke Bond Bru

Lipton

Kissan Kwality Wall's

Annapurna
Knorr

Pureit – The world's most advanced in-home water purifier

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EXPORTS

HUL's Exports geography comprises, at present, countries in

Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, Australia, North America etc

A brief on HUL's Exports portfolio

The categories under HPC include products in Skin care, Oral care,
Pears ,Personal Wash & Lakme range.

- Skin Portfolio includes Mass & Masstige Skin (Cream & lotions
under Fair & Lovely and Dove brands), Shampoos and Conditioners
(under Sunsilk brands), Vaseline & Talc (under Ponds brands). In
the past the focus market was in Middle East and Asia, which is
now slowing changing with current exports to European countries
and robust plans to source different products to US in the near
future.

- Oral Care consists of Tooth Paste and Tooth Brush (under

Pepsodent, Close-up, Mentadant and Signal brands). The exports
are to Asian and European countries.

- Pears Category consists of Bars, Hand Wash, Body Wash and

Shower Gel. Pears is being sold globally including to North America
/ UK to the GCC / African countries extending up to Singapore and
Australia. While the bar remains the most popular product, the
brand has now extended to hand wash, shower gel, body wash
and face wash. Currently Pears is celebrating its 200 year
anniversary which shows the rich heritage and the strong brand
equity it enjoys over generations.

- Personal wash category predominantly consists of Lux, Fair &

Lovely Soap, Lifebuoy Hand wash

- Lakme Products are mainly exported to the countries with Indian

Ethnic population or to geographies where the brand enjoys strong
equity. The markets include Nepal, Bangladesh, United Kingdom &
Maldives.

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FOOD & BEVERAGES:

The categories under F&B include products in Tea, Coffee &

Processed Foods range.

- Tea Category Includes: Tea Bags (includes Tea Bags, Flavored

Tea Bags and Square Tea Bags), Instant Tea, Bulk Tea & Packet
Tea. The branded packet tea, and instant tea are for Unilever's
ready-to-drink tea business. The branded teas are Brooke Bond,
Brooke Bond Red label, Brooke Bond Taj Mahal, Lipton, Lipton
Yellow Label, Lipton Green Label, Lipton Brisk and Lipton 3-in-1
premix.

- Coffee Category consists of Instant coffee & special coffee Beans

(under Bon and Bru brands). The focus market for Bon is CIS
markets while Bru is mainly sold to Ethnic markets / Indian
diaspora world-wide. Both Bon and Bru straddle the entire gamut
of formats comprising of spray dried coffee, granulated, freeze
dried and pre mixes.

- Processed Foods categories include Fruit Spreads / Jams, Soup

Powders, Salt, Wheat Flour, Tomato Ketchup and Custard Powder.
The branded processed food items consists of Kissan, Knorr,
Annapurna, Captain Cook, Brown & Polson brands.

Marine Products:

HUL offers a comprehensive portfolio, ranging from Surimi,

Crabsticks to Shrimps and several value-added products. Among
its customers is Icelandic, the world's third largest seafood
company. In addition, HUL has also become a part of Unilever's
supply chain in seafoods for Europe too. HUL's Marine Products
brands are Ocean Diamond, Ocean Excellence, Shogun, Hima,
Gold Seal, Tara and Prima.

Rice:

The categories are Basmati Rice and Basmati Rice-based ready-to-

eat rice meals. The brands are Gold Seal, Indus Valley, Rozana
and Annapurna.

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PRESENT STATURE

Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) is India's largest Fast Moving

Consumer Goods company, touching the lives of two out of three
Indians with over 20 distinct categories in Home & Personal Care
Products and Foods & Beverages. They endow the company with a
scale of combined volumes of about 4 million tonnes and sales of
nearly Rs.13718 crores.

HUL is also one of the country's largest exporters; it has been

recognised as a Golden Super Star Trading House by the
Government of India.

The mission that inspires HUL's over 15,000 employees, including

over 1,300 managers, is to "add vitality to life." HUL meets
everyday needs for nutrition, hygiene, and personal care with
brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of
life. It is a mission HUL shares with its parent company, Unilever,
which holds 52.10% of the equity. The rest of the shareholding is
distributed among 360,675 individual shareholders and financial
institutions.

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HUL's brands - like Lifebuoy, Lux, Surf Excel, Rin, Wheel, Fair &
Lovely, Pond's, Sunsilk, Clinic, Pepsodent, Close-up, Lakme,
Brooke Bond, Kissan, Knorr-Annapurna, Kwality Wall's – are
household names across the country and span many categories -
soaps, detergents, personal products, tea, coffee, branded staples,
ice cream and culinary products. They are manufactured over 40
factories across India. The operations involve over 2,000 suppliers
and associates. HUL's distribution network, comprising about
4,000 redistribution stockists, covering 6.3 million retail outlets
reaching the entire urban population, and about 250 million rural
consumers.

HUL has traditionally been a company, which incorporates latest

technology in all its operations. The Hindustan Unilever Research
Centre (HURC) was set up in 1958, and now has facilities in
Mumbai and Bangalore. HURC and the Global Technology Centres
in India have over 200 highly qualified scientists and technologists,
many with post-doctoral experience acquired in the US and
Europe.

HUL believes that an organisation's worth is also in the service it

renders to the community. HUL is focusing on health & hygiene
education, women empowerment, and water management. It is
also involved in education and rehabilitation of special or
underprivileged children, care for the destitute and HIV-positive,
and rural development. HUL has also responded in case of national
calamities / adversities and contributes through various welfare
measures, most recent being the village built by HUL in
earthquake affected Gujarat, and relief & rehabilitation after the
Tsunami caused devastation in South India.

In 2001, the company embarked on an ambitious programme,

Shakti. Through Shakti, HUL is creating micro-enterprise
opportunities for rural women, thereby improving their livelihood
and the standard of living in rural communities. Shakti also
includes health and hygiene education through the Shakti Vani
Programme, and creating access to relevant information through
the iShakti community portal. The program now covers 15 states
in India and has over 45,000 women entrepreneurs in its fold,
reaching out to 100,000 plus villages and directly reaching to 150
million rural consumers. By the end of 2010, Shakti aims to have

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100,000 Shakti entrepreneurs covering 500,000 villages, touching
the lives of over 600 million people.

HUL is also running a rural health programme – Lifebuoy Swasthya

Chetana. The programme endeavours to induce adoption of
hygienic practices among rural Indians and aims to bring down the
incidence of diarrhoea. It has already touched 84.6 million people
in approximately 43890 villages of 8 states. The vision is to make
a billion Indians feel safe and secure.

If Hindustan Unilever straddles the Indian corporate world, it is

because of being single-minded in identifying itself with Indian
aspirations and needs in every walk of life.

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YEAR MILESTONES
1888 Sunlight soap introduced in India.
Lifebuoy soap launched; Lever Brothers appoints agents in Mumbai,
1895
Chennai, Kolkata, and Karachi.
1902 Pears soap introduced in India.
1903 Brooke Bond Red Label tea launched.
1905 Lux flakes introduced.
1913 Vim scouring powder introduced.
Vanaspati introduced by Dutch margarine manufacturers like Van den
1918
Berghs, Jurgens, Verschure Creameries, and Hartogs.
1922 Rinso soap powder introduced.
1924 Gibbs dental preparations launched.
1926 Hartogs registers Dalda Trademark.
Unilever is formed on January 1 through merger of Lever Brothers and
1930
Margarine Unie.
Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company registered on November
1931
27; Sewri factory site bought.
1932 Vanaspati manufacture starts at Sewri.
Application made for setting up soap factory next to the Vanaspati
1933 factory at Sewri; Lever Brothers India Limited incorporated on October
17.
Soap manufacture begins at Sewri factory in October; North West Soap
1934 Company's Garden Reach Factory, Kolkata rented and expanded to
produce Lever brands.
1935 United Traders incorporated on May 11 to market Personal Products.
Mr. Prakash Tandon, one of the first Indian covenanted managers, joins
1937
HVM.
Garden Reach Factory purchased outright; concentration on building up
1939
Dalda Vanaspati as a brand.

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 Agencies in Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Karachi taken over; company
1941
acquires own sales force.
Unilever takes firm decision to "train Indians to take over junior and
1942
senior management positions instead of Europeans".
1943 Personal Products manufacture begins in India at Garden Reach Factory.
Reorganisation of the three companies with common management but
1944
separate marketing operations.
1947 Pond's Cold Cream launched.
Mr. Prakash Tandon becomes first Indian Director. Shamnagar, Tiruchy,
1951
and Ghaziabad Vanaspati factories bought.
1955 65% of managers are Indians.
Three companies merge to form Hindustan Unilever Limited, with 10%
1956
Indian equity participation.
Unilever Special Committee approves research activity by Hindustan
1957
Unilever.
1958 Research Unit starts functioning at Mumbai Factory.
1959 Surf launched.
Mr. Prakash Tandon takes over as the first Indian Chairman; 191 of the
1961
205 managers are Indians.
1962 Formal Exports Department starts.
1963 Head Office building at Backbay Reclamation, Mumbai, opened.
Etah dairy set up, Anik ghee launched; Animal feeds plant at Ghaziabad;
1964
Sunsilk shampoo launched.
1965 Signal toothpaste launched; Indian shareholding increases to 14%.
Lever's baby food, more new foods introduced; Nickel catalyst
1966 production begins; Indian shareholding increases to 15%. Statutory
price control on Vanaspati; Taj Mahal tea launched.
1967 Hindustan Unilever Research Centre, opens in Mumbai.
Mr. V. G. Rajadhyaksha takes over as Chairman from Mr. Prakash
1968 Tandon; Fine Chemicals Unit commissioned at Andheri; informal price
control on soap begins.

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 Rin bar launched; Fine Chemicals Unit starts production; Bru coffee
1969
launched
Mr. V. G. Rajadhyaksha presents plan for diversification into chemicals
1971 to Unilever Special Committee - plan approved; Clinic shampoo
launched.
1973 Mr. T. Thomas takes over as Chairman from Mr. V. G. Rajadhyaksha.
Pilot plant for industrial chemicals at Taloja; informal price control on
1974
soaps withdrawn; Liril marketed.
Ten-year modernisation plan for soaps and detergent plants; Jammu
1975 project work begins; statutory price control on Vanaspati and baby
foods withdrawn; Close-up toothpaste launched.
Construction work of Haldia chemicals complex begins; Taloja chemicals
1976
unit begins functioning.
Jammu synthetic Detergents plant inaugurated; Indian shareholding
1977
increases to 18.57%.
Indian shareholding increases to 34%; Fair & Lovely skin cream
1978
launched.
1979 Sodium Tripolyphospate plant at Haldia commissioned.
Dr. A. S. Ganguly takes over as Chairman from Mr. T. Thomas; Unilever
1980
shareholding in the company comes down to 51%.
1982 Government allows 51% Unilever shareholding.
1984 Foods, Animal Feeds businesses transferred to Lipton.
1988 Launch of Lipton Taaza tea.
1990 Mr. S. M. Datta takes over as Chairman from Dr. A. S. Ganguly.
1991 Surf Ultra detergent launched.
HUL recognised by Government of India as Star Trading House in
1992
Exports.
HUL's largest competitor, Tata Oil Mills Company (TOMCO), merges with
the company with effect from April 1, 1993, the biggest such in Indian
1993
industry till that time. Merger ultimately accomplished in December
1994; Launch of Vim bar; Kissan acquired from the UB Group.

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 HUL and Indian cosmetics major, Lakme Ltd., form 50:50 joint venture -
1995 Lakme Lever Ltd.; HUL enters branded staples business with salt; HUL
recognised as Super Star Trading House.
Mr. K. B. Dadiseth takes over as Chairman from Mr. S. M. Datta; Merger
of Group company, Brooke Bond Lipton India Limited, with HUL, with
1996
effect from January 1; HUL introduces branded atta; Surf Excel
launched.
Unilever sets up International Research Laboratory in Bangalore; new
1997
Regional Innovation Centres also come up.
Group company, Pond's India Ltd., merges with HUL with effect from
1998 January 1, 1998. HUL acquires Lakme brand, factories and Lakme Ltd.'s
50% equity in Lakme Lever Ltd.
HUL enters Ayurvedic health & beauty centre category with the Ayush
2002
range and Ayush Therapy Centres.
2003 Launch of Hindustan Lever Network; acquisition of the Amalgam Group
2005 Launch of "Pureit" water purifiers

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