Lifebuoy. Surf Excel. Liril. Pepsodent. Close up. Rin. Wheel…
Before you think I’ve accidentally written my grocery list here, don’t panic. It’s not like that. Today in Mega Empire, we will tell you about Hindustan Unilever, a company that manufactures all these products…Whose products are used in everyday work in 9 out of 10 homes in India today. By the way, after reading the name of the company, you must be thinking that it is an indigenous company, isn’t it? But it is not so. Present in India for 90 years, Hindustan Unilever Limited, the country’s largest FMCG company, has connections in the UK and the Netherlands.

Name Hindustani but company Anglo-Dutch
Hindustan Unilever is the parent company of Unilever. So before knowing the story of HUL, know how Unilever was formed? The year was 1888, when the ‘Lever Brothers’ of Britain started the Lever Brothers Company to make soap. The company’s Sunlight soap became famous within a very short time. The fame was so much that it reached every house in India. Then came the year 1930… The Swadeshi movement was at its peak. At the same time the sales of Unilever soap started falling. Seeing the falling sales, Lever Brothers merged with Margarine Uni of Netherlands (which was already selling Dalda in India) and set up Unilever Limited Company. Dalda of the Dutch company was being sold in the country under the name of Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company. Taking advantage of this, the Lever Brothers saved themselves from the Swadeshi movement.

HUL formed by the merger of three companies of Unilever
After the foundation of Unilever in India in 1933, in 1934 the company opened the first soap factory in Sewri, Mumbai. At this time, three companies of Unilever – Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, Lever Brothers India Limited, and United Traders Limited were operating separately in the country. Finally these three were merged together in November 1956 to form HLL i.e. Hindustan Lever Limited. At that time HLL offered 10% equity in its company to Indians and was soon in the news. In 2007, the company changed its name to Hindustan Unilever Limited ie HUL.

The acquisition phase started as soon as the company was named
After being established in the country, ‘Hindustan Unilever Limited’ first acquired the Lipton Company in the year 1972. And in 1977, the company was established in India under the name Lipton Tea Limited. In the year 1986, HUL also bought the already existing Ponds Limited in India. In view of its success, in 1992, HUL also set up a subsidiary company named ‘Unilever Nepal Limited’ in Nepal.

Empire grew rapidly after buying Tata’s company
The period after 1991 was a period of growth for the Indian economy. The market had opened up to foreign companies. At the same time, the country’s biggest company Tata was trying to get out of its oil and soap business. When HUL entered India, its biggest rival was Tata Company. However, in 1994, Tata sold its subsidiary Tata Oil Mills to HUL. Then came the year 1996 when Unilever entered the beauty products market. HUL bought 50% stake of another Tata company, Lakme Limited. Later in 1998, Lakme became a full-fledged HUL brand. Currently, HUL owns more than 50 brands across different categories through takeovers and mergers.

The business model behind being successful in India
Hindustan Unilever’s business model is driven by the idea of ​​making life sustainable for the masses. Its beauty and personal care segment is the most profitable for the company. While its food and refreshment segment is the fastest growing segment of the company. The main reason HUL has been successful in India is its focus on the lower and lower middle class of the country, unlike other foreign subsidiaries.

HUL has been in discussion many times due to controversies

Hindustan Unilever had a thermometer factory in Kodaikanal, Tamil Nadu. In 2001, the factory was accused of contaminating Kodaikanal Lake with mercury. Within months, the factory was shut down due to protests by local NGOs and Greenpeace. Soon the company also admitted in a 2002 report that it had dumped mercury waste.

Today Hindustan Unilever’s “Glow & Lovely” (earlier Fair & Lovely) is the top brand of skin lightening cream in India. But the company had to face many controversies for its product. Television commercials in 2007 depicted sad, dark-skinned women who were ignored by men. It was criticized all over India after which it had to be discontinued. For many years, Cream and the company were in dispute. To reduce the controversy, in 2020, the company rebranded the cream from Fair & Lovely to Glow & Lovely, removing the word Fair from the brand.

In the year 2019, there was a ruckus on social media regarding an ad of Surf Excel on Holi. The company was trolled badly for trying to convey the message of brotherhood between Hindus and Muslims through Ad and there was a demand to boycott the brand. Not only this, Surf Excel’s ad was said to support Love Jihad. Although the company did not remove this ad even after the controversy.