HUL’s Priya Nair’s clarion call – ‘renovate and innovate’ core brands

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) , the country’s largest consumer goods company is all set to break out of the stereotypical ‘one size fits all’ FMCG way of doing business. At her first quarterly results conference (Q2FY26), new MD and CEO, Priya Nair, laid down an ambitious plan of driving volume-led growth but on the back of a strategy that would continuously and radically segment consumers.

“If you look at India, it is emerging with clear consumer cohorts. At the top end of the pyramid are power spenders, the 80 million Indians, who are spending a lot of money and their average per capita income is going up. The democratisers are the bottom of the pyramid. HUL has an incredible portfolio that spans across price pyramids and there are opportunities to create strategies to segment brands, channels and cover each of these consumer cohorts and serve each of these consumer cohorts.”

It's almost three months since Nair took over the reins of the company and she says she has spent most of her time travelling across the length and breadth of the country meeting consumers and interacting with trade. Though India is not a new market for Nair and no one better than her knows about the Indians’ (both urban and rural) appetite to premiumise, but in the last four years when she was managing Unilever’s global portfolios in London, the scale at which the aspirational Indians are premiumising would have been an eye-opener. And, it is not so much the legacy companies which have been fuelling this aspiration, it is the plethora of direct-to-consumer brands with out-of-the-box innovations that have changed the game. Regional brands in their respective geographies have also upped their ante. They have been investing in innovation, in better-looking packs and robust supply chain practices. None of the legacy companies would admit, but they have been losing market to the upstarts.

No wonder one of Nair’s key priorities is to ensure all their core brands are modernized and transformed with modern looks and designs. “It will be done both through renovation and innovation,” she said. Nair is also planning an overhaul of its frontline marketing and sales machine, to make it future fit.

“We will invest in marketing which is social first so that our brands are discovered online and we will invest our resources in future fit channels including quick commerce which is fast emerging in India. We will ensuring all our high-growth spaces of scale are investing disproportionately. We are the original market makers of consumer products in India and we will ensure that as consumers become more affluent, we scale these markets into segments.”

In Q2FY26 HUL reported a muted 2% growth in revenue (Rs 16,061 crore) and consolidated net profit rose by 4%. The company said one-off gains aided its net profit during the quarter as the company recorded a net positive impact of ₹184 crore, driven by one-off positive impact pursuant to the resolution of prior years’ tax matters between UK and Indian tax authorities. If excluded, the PAT dipped 4% YoY.

Is the lacklustre Q2 growth one of the major reasons for the ‘renovate and innovate’ strategy? “HUL delivers consistent, competitive and profitable growth. It is the macro-economic conditions which were not favourable,” Nair defended.

In fact, one of the major reasons called out by HUL’s senior management was the GST rate cut transition. “From long-term perspective these reforms are expected to enhance affordability, boost disposable income, uptake consumption sentiment and unlock opportunities for premiumization across categories. The short-term led to considerable disruption across channels as trade partners postponed orders to clear existing inventory. Additionally, consumers delayed pantry replenishment in expectation of lower prices,” pointed out Ritesh Tiwari, CFO, HUL.

“We expect that from November onwards, the GST transition impact should normalise and the normal condition for trading should also come from November onwards, which is why our guidance that the second half of the financial year will be better than the first,” Tiwari added.