HUL Capital Markets Day 2026: Resetting for volume-led growth in a New India

Hindustan Unilever Limited used its Capital Markets Day 2026 to make a simple case. India is entering a new consumption phase, but the last two years have been soft. The company says it has spent the past year resetting priorities and execution so it can return to competitive, volume-led growth.

The starting point is scale and financial strength. In FY26, HUL reported annual turnover of ₹63,763 crore. It operates 21 brands with turnover above ₹1,000 crore and reaches 9 million plus outlets. The company highlighted a robust profit and cash profile with EBITDA margin of 23.6 percent and operating cash flow of about ₹11,000 crore. It also cited return on capital employed of 110.9 percent and standalone reserves of about ₹49,000 crore.

But management did not ignore the near-term slowdown. Growth has been muted in the last two years, with turnover growing at a 4 percent CAGR from FY24 to FY26 excluding the ice cream business. The message is that the environment was challenging, yet the company is already seeing a progressive step-up. Underlying sales growth moved from 3 percent in the first half of FY26 to 5 percent in the December quarter of FY25, 7 percent in the March quarter of FY26, and 10 percent in the June quarter of FY26.

The operating context: why New India matters

HUL framed the opportunity around India’s consumption runway. India is positioned as the fastest-growing major economy, with GDP rank expected to rise from 10 in 2014 to 6 in 2026 and 3 by 2030, as shown in the presentation. FMCG spending remains under-indexed versus peers. The deck cited per-capita FMCG spends of $63 in India, compared with multiples higher in Thailand, China, the Philippines, and Indonesia.

The company argued that growth is not uniform. It is emerging in distinct pockets across geographies, channels, and consumer spaces. Small towns are growing at 2 times versus all-India. Quick commerce is expected to reach a ₹2 lakh crore market by FY28. Social media users are about 500 million. And in categories like vitamins and dietary supplements, India is growing at 2.5 times the world.

To make this actionable, HUL used the idea of growth cells. In hair care, it segmented demand by big cities, small towns, and tier 4 plus rural, and mapped consumer types such as power spenders, premiumisers, and democratisers. The same idea underpins its broader strategy: win the growth cells rather than treat India as a single market.

Strategy to win: four growth levers, three enablers

HUL’s strategy is built on four levers that it says will drive incremental turnover.

Consumption, more usage, 40 percent delta Premiumisation, more benefits, 40 percent delta Market making, more users, 40 percent delta New spaces, more categories, 20 percent delta

These levers are supported by three enablers: crafting desirable brands, building a future-fit go-to-market, and using AI as a moat.

The company linked the strategy to specific actions taken in the last year. These include elevating brand desire using the SASSY framework, sharper resource allocation with fewer and bigger bets, accelerating key growth pockets across geographies, channels, and portfolios, stepping up execution with a new quick commerce organisation, and rewiring into a unified India operating model.

Management also stressed that the system is starting to show results. Beyond the improvement in underlying sales growth, the presentation cited continued strengthening of competitiveness, measured as an increase in turnover weighted market share.

Financial snapshot and segment mix

Segment playbooks: where the levers show up

The segment sections reinforced that HUL is not relying on one growth engine. Each business is expected to contribute through a mix of consumption, premiumisation, format upgradation, and category development.

Home Care: consumption and formats in a large scale business

Home Care is HUL’s largest segment at ₹23,672 crore revenue in FY26. It delivered a segment margin of 19 percent and contributes 37 percent of HUL’s revenue. The portfolio includes five brands above ₹1,000 crore, including Surf excel, Active Wheel 2 in 1, Rin, Vim, and Comfort.

The growth thesis is built on headroom in laundry and dishwash. HUL pointed to higher consumption with affluence and the impact of washing machine adoption on usage. The company sees premiumisation and format upgradation as key drivers, especially moving consumers from bars and powders to liquids.

Surf excel illustrates the approach. The deck showed that Surf excel volume grew 3 times from 2015 to 2025 while turnover grew 4 times over the same period. It also highlighted a sizeable opportunity of about 3 million tons of mass powder and bars in India, and positioned Surf excel Easy Wash as a route to premiumise this base. For liquids, quarterly penetration is still 13 percent, and penetration is 3 times higher among machine owners, supporting the case for sustained format shift.

In dishwash liquids, the penetration is 7 percent, yet Vim has a high relative market share of 6 times. HUL’s market making playbook for scaling categories is structured around superior product, a trigger for trial, education and large-scale sampling, partnerships, and distribution with trial packs.

Beauty and Wellbeing: winning across the two Indias

Beauty and Wellbeing reported FY26 revenue of ₹14,990 crore with a segment margin of 28 percent and contributes 23 percent of HUL revenue. The company described itself as the number one beauty company in India, with seven brands above ₹1,000 crore in the segment.

The core idea is that beauty’s next wave will be won by playing across two Indias, power spenders plus premiumisers on one end and democratisers on the other, supported by distinct ecosystems. The presentation cited large differences in per-capita consumption, penetration, channel mix, and smartphone ownership.

The portfolio is positioned to cover both ends. Iconic mass and premium brands sit alongside newer and more specialised brands including Minimalist, Simple, Nexxus New York, K18, dermalogica, and OZiva. The company highlighted Minimalist as a breakout acquisition, described as the fastest brand to about ₹900 crore plus ARR, with ARR doubling from FY22 to FY26. It also showed Simple scaling 10 times from FY22 to FY26.

Strategic growth pools highlighted in the deck included premiumisation in hair care, building regimes in sun care, and building massstige and wellbeing. Sun care was positioned as a fast-growing skin care segment with large under-penetration, climate tailwinds, and more women stepping out for work. HUL’s response is a multi-brand play and an advocacy-led model.

Personal Care: benefit ladder and category development

Personal Care reported FY26 revenue of ₹9,564 crore with a segment margin of 19 percent and contributes 15 percent of HUL revenue. The segment’s framing is a benefit ladder, moving consumers from entry and hygiene toward beauty, specialised benefits, and new formats.

The growth opportunities include higher rural growth, lifestyle improvement such as greater showering and running water, and the gap between India and benchmarks on per-capita consumption in categories like skin cleansing. Premiumisation is supported by the mass-to-premium shift in bars, and the deck cited a large base of mass soaps sold in India.

Market development is a key part of the plan. The bodywash example shows a scalable engine built on social-first media, trial generation through sampling at HUL’s scale, superior skincare-led benefits, and physical presence via higher distribution.

HUL also highlighted functional deodorants as a new space to develop, anchored on the market context of a hot and humid country and rising participation of working women, combined with Unilever’s global leadership in deodorants and Rexona’s technology.

Foods: reimagining the portfolio for premium, personal, and cold

Foods delivered FY26 revenue of ₹14,061 crore with a segment margin of 20 percent and contributes 22 percent of HUL revenue. The segment claims market leadership across key areas it plays in, including tea, lifestyle nutrition, ketchups and sauces, coffee in the south, soups, and jams.

The strategy is anchored in changing trends: premiumisation through flavours, formats, and functionality; a coffee revolution; health as a currency driving protein and fortification; climate pushing ready-to-drink; and convenience needs expanding condiments and cooking aids.

Horlicks is being repositioned toward nutrition science and superfoods, and also toward protein. The protein platform is framed around differentiation through fibre and quality testing. Kissan is being reframed from a kids’ condiment brand to a broader great Indian food brand, positioned around flavour hacking everyday meals.

In beverages, the company laid out three pivots that will shape the next decade. Mass to premium, including signs of premiumisation in quick commerce where it cited a 1.5 times index versus general trade. Kettle to cup, based on the increase in nuclear families to 50 percent from 37 percent in 2008, pushing personalisation and premixes. And hot to cold, supported by the rise in refrigerator ownership to 211 million households.

Segment comparison

Value creation model: funding growth while protecting returns

HUL’s strategy is tied to a clear financial model built around four steps: generate fuel for growth, deploy fuel for growth, step up capital for growth, and deliver volume-led profit growth, while creating enduring value through ESG.

The most concrete piece is the target to generate 500 basis points of fuel for growth. The levers include improving premium mix, maximising operating leverage where revenue growth runs ahead of fixed cost growth with a 1x versus 0.8x relationship, launching a multi-year Future Savings Lab with 100 basis points of savings ahead of historical average, and driving AI-led media effectiveness with a cited 10 percent improvement in lab testing.

On capital allocation, the company emphasised best-in-class cash generation, citing 100 percent cash conversion supported by disciplined working capital and negative trade working capital. It also laid out a sharper framework: step up productive capex investments, invest in reshaping the portfolio, and maintain dividend payout to shareholders. The plan is to raise capex from 2 percent to 3 percent of turnover, and to direct more than 75 percent and more than 85 percent of capex toward growth and savings, as shown in the presentation.

Portfolio reshaping is also a financial decision. The deck referenced actions such as the Pureit disposal, the ice cream demerger, the Nutritionalab divestment, and bolt-on acquisitions including Minimalist and OZiva, all aligned to focusing on fewer, bigger bets and pivoting toward higher-growth spaces.

Management also provided a medium-term profitability framing. The company indicated a medium-term EBITDA margin range of 22 to 24 percent, positioning it as a range that allows flexibility to invest for growth while shaping the portfolio structurally toward higher margins.

What investors should take away

HUL’s Capital Markets Day 2026 was less about a single product cycle and more about a system. The company is arguing that New India will not be won by broad-based spending. It will be won by precision: picking growth cells, building category usage, upgrading benefits, making markets in under-penetrated segments, and entering select new spaces.

The near-term proof point is the sequential step-up in underlying sales growth to 10 percent in the June quarter of FY26. The longer-term test is whether the company can sustain volume-led momentum while funding investments through premium mix, operating leverage, and a structured savings programme.

For investors, the story is credible because it is anchored in numbers that already exist in the business: scale across four powerhouse segments, strong cash conversion, and a defined capital allocation plan. The key monitorables now are simple. Whether competitive growth remains volume-led. Whether premiumisation improves mix without diluting reach. Whether market making creates durable categories like liquids and sun care. And whether new spaces add growth without scattering focus.

If execution holds, HUL’s message is that it can return to a familiar pattern: strong cash generation, disciplined reinvestment, and steady compounding, built for a consumption cycle that is still early in India.