MAM
HLL launches six new home and personal care products
MUMBAI: Hindustan Lever Limited (HLL) has introduced six new products in its personal wash, detergents, oral care and skin care portfolios in the September quarter.
In the foods division, Bru has been made the master brand for all formats in coffee. The slew of launches is in line with HLL’s strategy of relevant extensions of its Power Brands and improvement of product quality.
In detergents, HLL has launched Rin Advanced, both in powder and bar formats. The new formulation offers superlative whiteness and also has a new premium perfume and packaging. The new mix is being aggressively activated through a nationwide sampling exercise.
In personal wash, the company has launched a new variant of Lux soap, with exotic flower petals and Jojoba oil, offering the benefit of moisturising. The Lux soap franchise, which is the largest personal wash brand in India, also includes Lux Almond, Lux Sandal and Saffron and Lux Honey and Fruit Extracts.
HLL has also relaunched Hamam, which is the market leader in personal wash in Tamil Nadu. Hamam’s formulation now has improved with the addition of Aloe Vera to Neem and Tulsi. The shape has been contemporised and the packaging modernised. This is the first time the brand has undergone such a significant upgradation, since its launch.
HLL’s oral care Power Brand – Pepsodent, now has a new whitening variant, which contains a clinically proven ingredient to remove yellowness from teeth.
HLL’s skin care category has relaunched Vaseline Intensive Care Petroleum Jelly, in new distinctive packs. Vaseline is one of HLL’s fastest growing Power Brands. The new portfolio includes a low unit price pack, priced at Rs 4, aimed at aggressively growing the segment.
The foods division, in line with the Power Brand strategy, has made Bru the master brand for the Coffee business. Deluxe Green Label, the leading Roast and Ground Coffee brand, has been migrated to Bru, which already is nationally popular as an Instant Coffee. HLL’s Coffee business has been posting handsome growth. Bru, with its consolidated portfolio of both Instant and Roast and Ground formats, will further foster the brand’s position as a national choice.
Digital
Content India 2026 opens with a copro pitch, a spice evangelist and a £10,000 prize for Indian storytelling
Dish TV and C21Media’s three-day summit puts seven ambitious projects before an international jury, and two walk away with serious development money
MUMBAI: India’s content industry gathered in Mumbai this March for Content India 2026, a three-day summit organised by Dish TV in partnership with C21Media, and it wasted no time making a statement. The event opened with a Copro Pitch that put seven scripted and unscripted television concepts before an international panel of judges, and by the end of it, two projects had walked away with £10,000 each in marketing prize money from C21Media to support development and international promotion.
The jury, comprising Frank Spotnitz, Fiona Campbell, Rashmi Bajpai, Bal Samra and Rachel Glaister, evaluated a shortlist that ranged from a dark Mumbai comedy-drama about mental health (Dirty Minds, created by Sundar Aaron) to a Delhi coming-of-age mystery (Djinn Patrol, by Neha Sharma and Kilian Irwin), a techno-thriller about a teenage gaming prodigy (Kanpur X Satori, by Suchita Bhatia), an investigative crime drama blending mythology and modern thriller (The Age of Kali, by Shivani Bhatija), a documentary on India’s spice heritage (The Masala Quest, hosted by Sarina Kamini), a documentary on competitive gaming (Respawn: India’s Esports Revolution, by George Mangala Thomas and Sangram Mawari), and a reality-horror competition merging gaming and immersive fear (Scary Goose, by Samar Iqbal).
The session was hosted by Mayank Shekhar.
The two winners were Djinn Patrol, backed by Miura Kite, formerly of Participant Media and known for Chinatown and Keep Sweet: Pray & Obey, with Jaya Entertainment, producers of Real Kashmir Football Club, also attached; and The Masala Quest, created and hosted by Sarina Kamini, an Indian-Australian cook, author and self-described “spice evangelist.”
The summit also unveiled the Content India Trends Report, whose findings made for bracing reading. Daoud Jackson, senior analyst at OMDIA, set the tone: “By 2030, online video in India will nearly double the revenue of traditional TV, becoming the main driver of growth.” He noted that in 2025, India produced a quarter of all YouTube videos globally, overtaking the United States, while Indians collectively spend 117 years daily on YouTube and 72 years on Instagram. Traditional subscription TV is declining as free TV and connected TV gain ground, forcing broadcasters to innovate. “AI-generated content is just 2 per cent of engagement,” Jackson added, “highlighting the dominance of high-quality human content. The key for Indian media companies is scaling while monetising effectively from day one.”
Hannah Walsh, principal analyst at Ampere Analysis, added hard numbers to the picture. India produced over 24,000 titles in January 2026 alone, with 19,000 available internationally. The country now accounts for 12 per cent of Asia-Pacific content spend, up from 8 per cent in 2021, outpacing both Japan and China. Key exporters include JioStar, Zee Entertainment, Sony India, Amazon and Netflix, delivering over 7,500 Indian-produced titles abroad each year. The top importing markets are Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, the United States and the Philippines. Scripted content dominates globally at 88 per cent, with crime dramas and children’s and family titles performing particularly strongly.
Manoj Dobhal, chief executive and executive director of Dish TV India, framed the summit’s ambition squarely. “Stories don’t need translation. They need a platform, discovery, and reach, local or global,” he said. “India produces more movies than any country, our streaming platforms compete globally, and our tech and creators win international awards. Yet fragmentation slows growth. Producers, platforms, and tech move in different lanes. We need shared spaces, collaboration, and an ecosystem where ideas, technology, and people meet. That is why we built Content India.”
The data, the pitches and the prize money all pointed to the same conclusion: India is not waiting for the world to discover its stories. It is building the infrastructure to sell them.
