Brands
Hul eyes premium category growth with Rs 2,000 crore production boost
The company focuses on high-growth beauty, wellbeing and home care liquid categories
MUMBAI:Â Hindustan Unilever Limited (Hul) has announced a significant investment of Rs 2,000 crore to expand its manufacturing capacity over the next two years. The capital will be used to bolster production in fast-growing premium sectors, specifically within beauty, wellbeing, and home care liquids.
This move aligns with the company’s strategy to place larger bets on high-demand areas. By focusing on premium skin care, hair care, and liquid detergents, Hul aims to strengthen its position in markets where consumer preferences are shifting toward more specialised products.
The expansion will take place across multiple locations and will integrate advanced technology into the production process:
- Efficiency: Hul will use automation and digital tools to create a more agile supply chain, allowing for a quicker response to changing consumer trends.
- Sustainability: In line with the company’s environmental goals, the new facilities are designed to operate on 100 per cent renewable energy.
- Future-proofing: The investment aims to build a manufacturing network capable of supporting emerging digital sales channels and new product formats.
Hul chief executive officer and managing director Priya Nair, stated that the investment reflects a commitment to scaling brands and creating new categories for the future. She noted that the initiative underscores the company’s focus on building a resilient, technology-enabled supply chain that delivers better value to its customers.
By expanding its capacity in these specific segments, Hul is positioning itself to lead the next phase of growth in the Indian consumer goods market.
Brands
Faber-Castell India appoints Sunaina Haldar as director – marketing
With stints at Tata, SleepyCat and ADF Foods under her belt, Haldar is primed to redraw Faber-Castell’s brand story
MUMBAI: Faber-Castell India has poached Sunaina Haldar from ADF Foods, appointing her director – marketing as the German stationery brand looks to muscle up in a category that is rapidly reinventing itself around creativity and self-expression.
Haldar hit the ground running. “My first couple of weeks have been incredibly energising, understanding consumers, visiting markets, engaging with retailers and immersing myself into the world of Faber-Castell Group,” she said.
She arrives with considerable firepower. At ADF Foods, Haldar ran marketing across India and international markets for a portfolio spanning Ashoka, Aeroplane, Camel and ADF Soul. Before that, she was vice-president – marketing at direct-to-consumer mattress brand SleepyCat, where she helmed brand, content and performance marketing. Her résumé also includes a stint leading marketing, new product development and CRM for Tata SmartFoodz at Tata Consumer Products, no small proving ground.
Between corporate roles, Haldar also operated as a fractional CMO for early-stage startups, building marketing strategy and operational structures from scratch, a signal that she knows how to move fast with limited resources.
With 18 years straddling FMCG, D2C and the startup world, Haldar now takes the reins at a brand that has long owned the classroom but is clearly hungry for the living room. In a stationery market where the pencil has become a lifestyle statement, Faber-Castell has picked someone who knows exactly how to sell that story.
