Hindustan Unilever Limited (abbreviated to HUL) (BSE: HUL) formerly Hindustan Lever Limited, is India’s largest consumer products company and has an annual turnover of over Rs 13,000 crores (calendar year 2007)[1]. It was formed in 1933 as Lever Brothers India Limited and came into being in 1956 as Hindustan Lever Limited through a merger of Lever Brothers, Hindustan Vanaspati Mfg. Co. Ltd. and United Traders Ltd.. It is headquartered in Mumbai, India and has an employee strength of over 15,000 employees and contributes for indirect employment of over 52,000 people. The company was renamed in late June 2007 to “Hindustan Unilever Limited”. In 2007, Hindustan Unilever was rated as the most respected company in India for the past 25 years by Business World, one of India’s leading business magazines [2]. The rating was based on a compilation of the magazines annual survey of India’s Most Reputed Companies over the past 25 years. HUL is the market leader in Indian consumer products with presence in over 20 consumer categories such as Soaps, Tea, Detergents and Shampoos amongst others with over 700 million Indian consumers using its products. It has over 35 brands. Sixteen of HUL’s brands featured in the AC Nielsen-Brand Equity list of 100 Most Trusted Brands Annual Survey (2008) [3]. According to Brand Equity, HUL has the largest number of brands in the Most Trusted Brands List. It’s a company that has consistently had the largest number of brands in the Top 50 and in the Top 10 (with 4 brands). Hindustan Unilever distribution covers over 1 million retails outlets across India directly and its products are available in over 6.3 million outlets in India, i.e. nearly 80% of the retail outlets in India. It has 39 factories in the country. Two out of three Indians use the company’s products and HUL products have the largest consumer reach being available in over 80 per cent of consumer homes across India. The Anglo-Dutch company Unilever owns a majority stake (52%) in Hindustan Unilever Limited. HUL was one of the eight Indian companies to be featured on the Forbes list of World’s Most Reputed companies in 2007 [4].
