With 10 Rs 1,000 crore brands in India, can HUL take on global rivals?

After a surge in sales in the last fiscal, Dove, Pond’s and Clinic Plus have become the latest brands of Hindustan Unilever to join the Rs 1,000 crore club of brands.

The trio have joined Rin, Surf Excel, Wheel, Brooke Bond, Lux, Lifebuoy and Fair & Lovely in the elite club. The country’s largestFMCGcompany Hindustan Unilever has three dozen brands in its portfolio, and now with the latest development it owns ten Rs 1,000-crore plus brands, reported Economic Times.

The article notes that Dove made a special mark. While HUL’s largest brand Wheel took almost three decades to hit the Rs 1,000-crore sales market,Dove has reached the landmark in just two decades after its launch in 1993, thefastest brand to match the feat.

With sales of Rs 100 crore in 2007, the personal care brand has grown ten times in just over five years.

And how did HUL manage this?

“Driving premiumisation,” an HUL spokesperson tells ET.

In fact, focus on premium offerings helped HindustanUnilever also post its highest operating margin in a decade at 20 percent for the year ended March 2013.

Though HUL still trails some of its global rivals, it may not be too long before it takes over ColgateandNestle.