HUL adds Vaseline and Sunsilk to its ₹1,000 crore club

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TL;DR:

Vaseline and Sunsilk crossed ₹1,000 crore in annual turnover, taking HUL’s ₹1,000 crore-plus brand count to 20 and strengthening its beauty, skincare and haircare growth story.

Article:

Hindustan Unilever’s ₹1,000 crore brand club has expanded to 20 after Vaseline and Sunsilk crossed the annual turnover milestone in FY26, underscoring how beauty, skincare and haircare are becoming larger growth engines inside India’s biggest FMCG portfolio. The milestone comes as HUL reported an 8% revenue rise in the March quarter, its highest growth in 12 quarters, with 7% underlying sales growth and 6% underlying volume growth.

The significance is not only that two legacy brands got bigger. It is that they did so in categories where consumers are trading up selectively, even while mass-market demand remains uneven. HUL said Beauty & Wellbeing grew 8% in the March quarter, led by strong double-digit growth in Hair Care, while Skin Care held double-digit momentum in newer channels.

The company also linked growth to product and price architecture. Its March-quarter update cited launches such as Lakmé Sun Gel at a ₹10 access pack and Vaseline Cloud Soft with SPF 50, showing how HUL is trying to combine premium formats with mass reach. That matters in India, where the next ₹1,000 crore brand may be built as much through distribution and affordability as through aspiration.

Priya Nair, CEO and Managing Director of HUL, said FY26 saw an “improved demand environment” and that the company had sharpened its portfolio, scaled brand investments and strengthened frontline demand generation. She added that HUL is navigating commodity and currency volatility through savings, supply-chain resilience and calibrated pricing.

HUL’s scale gives the milestone wider weight. In FY25, the company said it had 50-plus brands across 15 categories, reached over 9 million outlets and had 19 brands with ₹1,000 crore-plus turnover. Vaseline and Sunsilk moving into that bracket suggests the beauty portfolio is not a side bet; it is becoming central to HUL’s growth defence.

The next test is whether these brands can keep growing without leaning too hard on price hikes. Volume-led growth, channel expansion and sharper innovation will decide whether HUL’s ₹1,000 crore club remains a scoreboard or becomes a pipeline.