CEO introduction

At a time when businesses are under the scrutiny of stakeholders, we feel proud that we belong to a company whose visionary founder Lord Leverhulme believed: “That nothing can be greater than a business, however small it may be, that is governed by conscience; and that nothing can be meaner or more petty than a business, however large, governed without honesty and without brotherhood.”

Our commitment

We have come a long way in these 75 years. A lot has changed since then. But what has not changed is the Company's values and commitment to corporate responsibility and social change. This commitment is completely captured by HUL Sankalp under which HUL family committed to volunteer one hour for every day HUL has been in India – a total of 27,375 hours. It gives me a huge sense of pride to state that we not only fulfilled our commitment, but exceeded this by over 70% and we had one out of every three HUL employees participating in this effort.

Our Vision

We have an inspiring vision that guides and shapes our thinking and action. It is to 'earn the love and respect of India by making a real difference to every Indian'. We will deliver on this through our ‘Vitality’ mission – ‘to add vitality to life’ by meeting everyday needs of nutrition, hygiene and personal care with brands that help people feel good, look good and get more out of life.

Our Business Case for Sustainability

Poverty, malnutrition, water scarcity and lack of health education are just some of the challenges that plague India. One million people in India lose their lives to avoidable and curable diseases like diarrhoea every year due to contaminated water; over 220 million suffer from malnutrition. Calorie and nutrient consumption in India are well below the recommended intake, causing anemia and several other diseases particularly among the rural population. Water sources are steadily depleting and experts predict hotter summers and erratic rainfall due to climate change.

We believe that, in the future, preferred consumer brands will be those with positive social, economic and environmental impacts. Therefore, business success will be materially impacted by how well its brands integrate a socioeconomic agenda into its development strategies and its relationships with consumers. This new era will also compel companies to build trust and help consumers make the right choices.

Our Approach

Our corporate responsibility strategy seeks to address HUL's most significant sustainability impacts of hygiene, nutrition, enhancement of livelihoods & eco-efficiency of our operations, by integrating these objectives into our brands, our people and our processes. Whilst we have made good progress under all these areas since 2004, the highlight has been the Handwash programme by Lifebuoy and safe drinking water from Pureit.

For us doing well and doing good are two sides of the same coin and we would work towards realising our dream of making a real difference to every Indian.

Nitin Paranjpe

CEO & Managing Director