Hindustan Unilever Limited is India's largest consumer products company and was formed in 1933 as Unilever 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 or HUL (Hindustan Unilever Limited), as it is now known, 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 HUL. It was in the summer of 1888 that Unilever of England first marketed Sunlight soap in India. This was followed by brands like Pears and Vim. Unilever's first Indian subsidiary was set up in 1931, Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company, followed by Unilever Brothers India Limited (1933) and United Traders Limited (1935). These three companies merged to form HUL in November 1956.
The company was renamed in late June 2007 to "Hindustan Unilever Limited" to provide the finest stability between maintaining the tradition of the Company and the future benefits and synergies of global alignment with the corporate name of Unilever". Some of its brands include Kwality Walls ice cream, Lifebuoy, Lux, Breeze, Liril, Rexona, Lipton tea, Brooke Bond tea, Pepsodent and Close Up, Surf, Rin and Wheel laundry detergents, Pond's talcs and creams, Vaseline lotions, Fair & Lovely creams, Lakmé beauty products, Clinic Plus, Clinic All Clear, Sunsilk and Lux shampoos, etc.
HUL and Lakmé
A number of prominent companies came into the HUL fold as result of Unilever's international acquisitions. These included Brooke Bond (1984), Lipton (1972) and Pond's (1986). In 1993, Tata Oil Mills Company (TOMCO) merged with HUL.
On February 25th 1998, HUL and yet another Tata company, Lakmé Limited, formed a 50:50 joint venture, Lakmé Unilever Limited. Lakmé Limited sold its brands to HUL and divested its 50 per cent stake in the joint venture to the FMCG giant. It was...