Unilever in India: Managing Brand Extensions

In 1930, the company merged with 'Margarine Unie' (a Netherlands based company which exported vanaspati to India), to form Unilever. In 1931, Unilever set up its first Indian subsidiary, the Hindustan Vanaspati Manufacturing Company for producing vanaspati. This was followed by the establishment of Lever Brothers India Ltd. in 1933 and United Traders Ltd. in 1935, for the distribution of personal products. In November 1956, the three Indian subsidiaries merged to form HLL. In the 1990s, HLL expanded its operations through mergers and acquisitions. In April 1993, the company acquired its largest competitor, Tata Oil Mills Company (TOMCO), the biggest such deal in Indian industry till that time.

(Subsequently in 1998, Lakme sold its products to HLL and divested its 50% stake in the venture). In January 1996, HLL absorbed a group company Brooke Bond Lipton India Ltd² (BBLIL) in January1996, followed by another group company, Pond's India Ltd in January 1998³.

By the late 1990s, the integration of the different Unilever entities operating in India, had been largely completed. Till the mid-1990s, bulk of HLL's growth had come through acquisitions. Realising that many of the growth opportunities had been exhausted, Chairman Keki Dadiseth launched Project Millennium in the late 1990s. In 1999, around the time Banga took charge, signs of slower growth were evident...