We have embarked on a mission to be a 'World-class Force for Good’ in Foods and Refreshment (F&R), through our iconic brands such as Brooke Bond, Lipton, Horlicks, Boost, Bru, Kissan, Knorr, Hellmann’s, Kwality Wall’s and Magnum.

Our endeavour, as one of the largest F&R businesses in India, is to address evolving consumer needs while making sustainable choices, as they increasingly seek:

Healthier living

Smart spending & affordable meals

Indulgent experiences across ethnic cuisines & flavours

Convenience, any-time any-where food

FY 2023-24, the Foods and Refreshment business delivered competitive growth consequently gaining market share.This was driven by strong innovation to formulate products that taste good and are healthier for people and planet.




Srinandan Sundaram Executive Director, Foods and Refreshment

anuradha-razdan

Review of the year

In FY’24, our Foods & Refreshment business reported an Underlying Sales Growth of 4%.

In a challenging operating environment, our growth has been competitive as we focused on providing better value to consumers, market development and portfolio expansion.

₹15,292 Cr

Revenue

₹2,851 Cr

EBIT

19%

Segment Margin

Unilever Food Solutions (UFS) business saw strong high double-digit growth.
Coffee maintained double-digit growth, driven by pricing.
Nutrition drinks and Tea continued its trajectory of gaining handsome market share during the year.

Growing the core

We continued to keep our brands contemporary, through purposeful communication and impactful innovation delivering unmissably superior products designed to win in taste, health and sustainability.

Cementing our market leadership in Tea

We continued to widen the market share gap Vs. our nearest competitor, gaining significant share. Leveraging our WiMI strategy, we have customised our tea blends basis unique tastes and preferences of consumers' across different parts of India. We engaged consumers with heartfelt stories that resonated with their values. Brooke Bond Red Label launched two beautiful films during the year that spoke about forging connections over a cup of Tea.

Making our brands unmissably superior

For Horlicks, we focussed on different aspects of consumer preferences to build a stronger brand that continued to gain penetration, market share and brand power. We rolled out differentiated communications basis nuanced insights from East and South India and relaunched the brand with an all-new packaging. Our scientifically backed claim of ‘Taller, Stronger, Sharper’ was boosted through strong, impactful messaging and advertisements.

Evolving with our consumers

During the year, we re-launched Kissan Jams with a formulation of 30% more fruit content. We also introduced a first-of-its-kind on-pack augmented reality-based activation, which allows our consumers to connect to the world of our farmers. By scanning a QR code at the back of the pack, consumers can get a chance to experience the 'farm to fork' journey through interactive games.

Strengthening our core

Bru coffee was relaunched with enhanced taste, stronger aroma and with new packaging highlighting its South Indian heritage. In Ice Cream, we strengthened Cornetto with the re-launch of ‘Double Chocolate’, in a rich creamy chocolate flavour, topped with chocolate sauce and surrounded by the crunchiest cone.

Market making & premiumisation

Consumers are seeking new experiences, differentiated benefits and experimenting with new cuisines and we are ensuring that we partner them in this journey through our market making activities. During the year, our premium portfolio grew handsomely, leading growth for the category.

Foods
Refreshment
Ice Cream

Channels of the future

This year we saw an increase in shopping trips to Modern Trade, with purchases moving from General Trade to Modern Trade. Ready-to-eat food delivery has now become a significant channel, while consumers also increased spends on eating out. As more people stepped out, we saw growth in both Modern Trade and our Out-Of-Home Unilever Food Solutions business.

Modern Trade and e-Commerce are extremely critical to driving our premiumisation agenda. We continued to leverage channels of the future, with products like Bru Freeze Dried Coffee, Knorr Korean meal pots and Kwality Wall’s Slow Churn Ice cream, which were designed exclusively for these channels and allowed us to test our mix, while accelerating our premium portfolio at the same time.

Being boldly healthier, for people and the planet

Recognising consumers’ growing focus on healthier food options and sustainable consumption, we are actively evolving our portfolio and ways of working to offer choices that align with these values.

92% of our F&R portfolio meets Unilever’s science-based nutrition criterion with 100% of our Ice Creams containing less than 250 kcal and 22 grams of total sugar per serve.

More than 90% of our Nutrition Drinks portfolio contains lesser than one teaspoon of added sugar per serving, and our adult portfolio contains no added sugar. Over the years, we have continued to enhance our formulation, reducing added sugar.

Did you know?

During the Clean Future Summit, 18 of our partners signed the ‘Climate Pledge’, demonstrating their commitment to a net zero journey.

Our brands

Nutrition Drinks

Foods

Ice Cream

Beverages

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We continue to maintain growth momentum on Hellmann’s Mayonnaise and Kissan Peanut Butter through a mix of market development actions and home-to-home sampling.

Our newly introduced range of Korean meal pots continued to show significant consumer traction and the range was further augmented with the launch of Knorr K-Pot Korean Ramen.

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We augmented our premium Freeze Dried Coffee range with the launch of Bru Gold Vanilla, Caramel and Hazelnut flavours. We also introduced a range of ready-to-drink cold coffee, through online channels.

In Tea, we accelerated our Green Tea portfolio with the launch of a 'Tastier and less bitter' clear and light green tea variant, supported with highly persuasive communication across channels alongside in-home and in-store sampling.

In Horlicks, we expanded our Plus range with Strength Plus and Growth Plus variants. On the back of market development activities, the Plus range continued to witness strong growths in the year.

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Our premium Ice Cream portfolio continues to accelerate significantly ahead of the category on the back of Magnum and in-home ordering through e-Commerce and q-Commerce portals.

We introduced a premium range of ice cream 'Slow Churn', made with artisanal expertise, from handpicked fruits and fresh milk cream slowly churned together into creamy perfection. We also introduced the Chocolate Hazelnut and Feast Crackle in partnership with Cadbury, providing consumers diverse flavours and options to choose from.