ANALYSIS

A BRIEF STUDY ON
MARKET SRUCTURE AND DEMAND
OF HINDUSTAN UNILEVER

PROJECT REPORT
SUBMITTED TO:
MS. Meghnaa Sharma
Accman Institute of Management
Greater noida, knowledge park-3
U.P

Prepared by:
MOHD.ARISH
UPMA JOSHI
KAPIL

TABLE OF CONTENT

Sl.no
Content
1.
Executive summary

Page no.
3

2.

Introduction

4-5

3.

Objectives and Methodology

4.

Findings
Product Line
SWOT Analysis
Competitors Analysis
Performance Analysis
Future Opportunities
Future Projects of HUL

7
8
9-12
13-15
15-18
19

5.

Conclusion

20

6.

Bibliography

21

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Hindustan Unilever Limited is the Indian arm of the Anglo-Dutch company Unilever.
Both Unilever and HUL have established themselves well in the Fast Moving Consumer
Goods (FMCG) category. In India, the company offers many households brands
like, Dove,Lifebuoy, Lipton,Lux, Pepsodent, Ponds, Rexona, Sunsilk, Surf, Vaseline etc.
Some of its efforts were also rewarded when four of HUL brands found place in the Top
10 brands list for the year 2008 published in The Economic Times.
Unilever was a result of the merger between the Dutch margarine company, Margarine
Unie, and the British soap-maker, Lever Brothers, way back in 1930. For 70 years,
Unilever was the undisputed market leader but now faces tough competition from
Proctor & Gamble and Colgate-Palmolive.
HUL is also known for its strong distribution network in India. In order to further
strengthen its distribution in the rural areas and to empower the local women, HUL
launched a project Shakti in 2000 in a district in Andhra Pradesh. The idea behind this
project was to create women entrepreneurs and provide them with micro-credit and
training in enterprise management, which would enable them to create self-help groups
and become direct-to-home distributors of HUL products. Today Shakti is present across
80,000 villages in 15 states and is helping many underprivileged women earn their
livelihood.
As the per capita income of India increasing along with the Indian population. So, the

future for the FMCG Companies is bright. To analysis the past performance & the future
demand of HUL, FMCG products we have considered following points:

We have a listed the different FMCG product lines of HUL.We have done
competitors analysis in which the market share of top FMCG companies are
analayised & the market share of HULS different categories product are
analayised with comparison to its competitors.
Then we have done SWOT analysis to know the threat & opportunities of HUL in
present market.
Then performance analysis is made by taking 10 year financial data from 19982007. The profit & sales growth is analysed.
Then the future opportunities for FMCG products are taken into consideration by
analyzing the increased percapita income & increased disposable income to
forecast the future demand of HUL.

INTRODUCTION
Hindustan Unilever Limited (abbreviated to HUL), formerly
Hindustan Lever Limited, is INDIAs 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 as "Hindustan
Unilever Limited".
Some of its brands include Kwality Wall's ice cream, Lifebuoy, Lux,
Breeze, Liril, Rexona, Hamam, Moti soaps, Pureit Water Purifier,
Lipton tea, Brooke Bond tea, Bru Coffee, Pepsodent and Close Up
toothpaste and brushes, and Surf, Rin and Wheel laundry
detergents, Kissan squashes and jams, Annapurna salt and atta,
Pond's talcs and creams, Vaseline lotions, Fair & Lovely creams,
Lakme beauty products, Clinic Plus, Clinic All Clear, Sunsilk and
Dove shampoos, Vim dish wash, Ala bleach and Domex
disinfectant,Rexona,Modern Bread and Axe deospray.HUL has
produced many business leaders for corporate India. It is referred
to as a CEO Factory' in the Indian press for the same reasons. Its
leadership building potential was recognized when it was ranked
4th in the Hewiit Global Leadership Survey 2007 with only GE,
P&G and Nokia ranking ahead of HUL in the ability to produce
leaders with such regularity
Today, HUL is one of Indias largest exporters of branded Fast
Moving Consumer Goods. It has been recognized by the
Government of India as a Golden SuperStarTradingHouse.
4

Over time HUL has developed into a viable & competitive sourcing
base for Unilever world wide in Home and Personal Care & Foods
& Beverages category of products. HUL is also a global marketing
arm for select licensed Unilever brands and also works on building
categories
with
core
country
advantage
such
as
brandedbasmatirice.
HUL Exports offers high level of service with flexibility and
responsiveness thorough out the supply chain. It has a dedicated
organization structure to support this endeavor and this has
helped in growth of these businesses in particular. Intrinsic cost
competitiveness in the end to end Supply chain with appropriate
technology and competitive capital investment operations while
delivering best in class quality enables HUL to position itself as a
key sourcing hub for Unilever and also become a preferred
partner for Global customers in categories we operate.
HULs key focus in the exports business is on two broad
categories. It is a sourcing base for Unilever brands in Home &
Personal Care (HPC) and Food and Beverages (F&B) for supplies to
other Unilever companies. It also focuses on becoming a preferred
supplier to both non-Unilever and Unilever clients in three
categories in which India, as a country, has competitive
advantage Branded Rice, Marine Products and Castor and its
Derivatives. HUL enjoys international recognition within Unilever
and outside for its quality, reliability and speed of customer
service.
HUL's Exports geography comprises, at present, countries in
Europe, Asia, Middle East, Africa, Australia, and North America
etc.

HULs products touches two out of three Indian everyday

Reach 80% Households
Direct Coverage of 1mln outlets

 2000 Suppliers and Associates

71 Manufacturing locations
15000 Employees
1100 managers
Shelf availability 84% outlets in India

METHODOLOGY

OBJECTIVES AND

OBJECTIVE

Primary objective
To find the past sale growth and demand analysis
Secondary Objective
Market structure analysis
SWOT analysis
Competitor analysis
Performance evaluation

Methodology
In this project we have followed descriptive method of study.
Research instrument
Here project analysis is made by collecting secondary data from
different websites, journals, etc.
Secondary datas are pre published and research datas
collected from different websites, journals, newspapers,
company research papers.
These documents and datas are very useful for the
theoretical, conceptual and organizational background
analysis.
6

 Detailed analysis of datas is made by plotting different

graphs and tables which can be easily understandable.
Then by observing these graphs we have made our
conclusions and recommendations.

PRODUCT LINE
A) HOME AND PERSONAL CARE:
1) Personal wash
Lux
Lifebuoy
Liril
Hamam

Breeze
Dove
Pears
Rexona

2) Laundry
Surf Excel
Rin
Wheel

3) Skin Care
Fair and lovely
Ponds
Aviance

4) Hair care

5) Oral care

Sunsilk naturals
Clinic

Pepsodent
Close up

6) Deodorants 7)
Cosmetics
Axe

Colour

Lakme
7

Rexona
8) Ayurvedic Personal and health care:
B) FOODS
1) Tea
cream
Brooke Bond
Kwality walls
Lipton

2) Coffee

Ayush
3) Foods

Brooke Bond Bru

4)

Ice

Kissan
Knor
Annapurna

C) WATER PURIFIER
Pureit

SWOT ANALYSIS
STRENGTH
Variety of products
Distribution Network
Brand image
Quality Management
Innovation and R&D strength
THREATS
From High Class Competitor
Proctor & Gamble
Pantene
Dabur
Babool
Dabourlal Dent Manjan
Reckitt Benckiser
Dettol
8

 Palmolive
Colgate, Nirma
OPPORTUNITIES
Huge Market
Increasing per capital income
Increasing consumption pattern
Potential for making more impact of brand image.
Coming in technology e.g. in water purifiers
WEAKNESS
Not able to compete with local competitor in the rural market
Not focus on upper class population
Pricing policy is not good

COMPETITORS ANALYSIS
According to the market survey done by BUSINESS TODAY the top
10 companies of FMCG sector are given below.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Hindustan Unilever Ltd.

ITC (Indian Tobacco Company)
Nestl India
GCMMF (AMUL)
Dabur India
Asian Paints (India)
Cadbury India
Britannia Industries
Procter & Gamble Hygiene and Health
9

Care
10. Marico Industries

THE COMPARATIVE DATA OF % MARKET SHARE OF HUL

AND ITS COMPETITOR IN QUARTER ENDED JUN08

80
70
60
50
40
30
20

HUL(MARKET SHARE %)
COMPETITOR (MARKET
SHARE %)

10
0

(Above graph showing %age Market share of HUL and its

competitor in different categories of FMCG products)
As mentioned in the above graph, HUL is enjoying the leader
position in the market and is having highest market shares which
10

are followed by the market challengers like Dabur India Ltd,

Nestle India Ltd, and ITC LTD, ETC..In different categories of
FMCG products like shampoo, skincare , deo, jams, coffee, etc

In some category these market challengers are giving high level

competition in different product lines such as ketchup and
toothpaste (As shown in the graph below).

60
47.9

50
40
30

30
24.5

27.6

20
10
0

TOOTH PASTE

KETCHUP

HUL(Market share%)
COMPETITOR(Market share%)

(Above graph showing the two category of products in which HUL

percentage market share is less than its competitor in Quarter
ended JUN08)

11

So we can see that in overall FMCG business HUL is distantly

ahead of rest of the companies as far as market share of different
products are concerned.

MARKET SHARE OF FMCG COMPANIES IN INDIA

OTHERS; 19%
HUL; 35%
DABUR; 4%
BRITANNIA; 6%
NESTLE; 8%
ITC; 29%

12

In the above pie chart we see the position of various FMCG

companies doing business in India. We can see that HUL is
enjoying the position of market leader and is followed by ITC as
close second in the market share of FMCG products.

PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS
Hindustan Unilever Ltd is one of the leading FMCG company in
India which having the following past financial records we have
taken for the analysis as follows:
Table showing past 10 years financial data

13

Sales growth of last 10 years

1500000
1400000
1300000
sales(Rs. Lakhs)
1200000
1100000
1000000
900000
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

PROFIT OF LAST 10 YEAR

200000
180000
160000
140000
120000

PROFIT(Rs.Lakhs)

100000
80000
60000
40000
20000
0
1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007

DATA ANALYSIS:
14

We have the sales and profit figures of HUL from the year 1998 to
2007 in the 10year past data from Yr1998-2007, after plotting two
graph one of sales & other of profit as shown in here we can see
that both profit and sales of the company rose from the year
1998 till 2001, but in the year 2002 we see that the sales fell but
there was actually rise in the profit of the company . In the year
2004 we see that there was a steep fall in the profit of the
company and from the year 2005 onwards there was a slow but
steady rise in the profit of the company, but a rapid rise in the
sales of the company in the given years.

Reason for the steep fall in the profit of the company in the year
2004: The FMCG market in Urban India was attaining the saturation
level and so companies had to expand its market in rural
India. This resulted in the downfall in the profit of HUL. There
was very aggressive advertising campaign by ITC in that
year to set itself in the market this affected HUL who was
enjoying the position of market leader and resulted in the fall
in the profit of the company.

In the following graph we can see the percentage growth in FMCG

sales of HUL from March quarter 07 to March quarter 08.

15

FMCG Sales volume growth in last 5 quarter in 07-08

25
20
FMCG Sales volume
growth in last 5 quarter in
07-08

15
10
5
0
MQ'07

JQ'07

SQ'07

DQ'07

MQ'08

(Graph showing the FMCG trend through last quarters)

FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES
India is a fast developing country with a huge population whose
per capita income is growing rapidly and there is huge
opportunity for FMCG companies.

The opportunities are as follows:

Increasing per capita income is driving FMCG growth in India
Indias consuming class is growing rapidly
Changing consumption pattern: Per capita income of Indian
customer is increasing and FMCG products are relatively
elastic in nature hence the expected sale should increase.

16

By the following three graphs(data collected from a research

made by govt. of INDIA) we can expect increase future demand of
FMCG products, the graphs showing the increasing percapita
income, percapita disposable income and population of India
respectively are as follows:

Percapita income(Rs)
1200
1000
800
Percapita income(Rs)
600
400
200
0

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008

(Above graph showing percapita income of INDIANS through out

Yr2000-2008)

As shown in the above graph the percapita income of an INDIAN

increased throughout years, and if this trend will continue in
future the people can purchase more FMCG products.

17

700
599

600

551

500

461

424

494

505

2004

2005

400
300
200
100
0

2002

2003

2006

2007

Percapita disposible income

(Above graphs showing increased percapita disposable
income from Yr20022007)

% Of past population rise and future expetation

45
41.5

40
35

35

30
25
20
15

25
23.5
17

20
18.5

30
27.5

% Of past
population rise
and future
expetation

10
5
0

(Above graph shows the past population and expected future

population rise, data are collected from the research made by
govt. of INDIA)Here by the above graphs we can see that there is
18

huge scope for FMCG products and since HUL is the market leader
in India hence it can gain the most out of it.

CATEGORY WISE SALE GROWTH OF FMCG SECTOR

OF HUL IN INDIA:
CATEGORY

%AGE

Soaps & Detergents 19.3

Personal Products
Ice Cream

22.4
15.7

Processed Foods

13.7

Beverages

13.6

Others

19.4

25
22.4
20

19.4

19.3
15.7

15

13.7

13.6

10

0
Soaps & detergents

Ice cream

Beverages

% GROWTH OF DIFFERENT FMCG PRODUCTS OF HUL

(Above graph shows the data of MAR08 Quarter %growth of

different products of HUL)
19

FUTURE PROJECTS OF HUL:

As competition is increasing day by day, its difficult to
maintain the leader position & to further strengthen the
distribution network HUL made a project called project SHAKTI
which will serve the following purpose:

A) To Reach:
Small, scattered settlements and poor infrastructure
make distribution difficult.
Over 500,000 villages not reached directly by HUL.
B)

To Communicate:
Low literacy hampers effectiveness of print media.
Poor media-reach: 500 million Indians lack TV &
radio.

C)

To Influence:
Low category penetration, consumption.

C) Awareness:
Per capita consumption in Unilever categories is 33%
of urban level.

20

CONCLUSION

Hindustan Unilever ltd. Is a leading FMCG company in India and

from last three consecutive years has shown accelerated growth
in FMCG portfolio. Customers in India are also spending more in
FMCG as their standard of living is growing. HUL has placed itself
successfully in the position of market leader in FMCG products.
Though there was some downfall in sales and profit of the
company in the beginning of this decade but after that HUL has
shown considerable rise in both sales and profit. The future of the
company is also looking bright as FMCG market in India is still
expanding and so we can safely conclude that HUL will be able to
secure its number one position in FMCG product.

HUL has also started project SHAKTI that has provided it direct
reach to rural market. This may be considered a revolutionary
step since the urban market is reaching its saturation level and
there is a huge scope exploring rural market. This will also be
helpful not only increasing its market share but also fight
competition.

21

BIBLIOGRAPHY

In order to make this project we have taken the help of the

following websites & books:

www.wikipedia.com
www.oppapers.com
www.hul.co.in
www.scribd.com

Besides it various books are also consulted to prepare project

report.

AUTHORS NAME

BOOKS

Ashish Benerjee
economics

Principle of

H.L. Ahuja
Microeconomics

Modern

22

Application
C.K.Kothari
Methodology

Theory and
Research

23

24