HUL to integrate foods and refreshments biz in South Asia from July 1

Two years after splitting its foods and refreshments (F&R) business into two separate units, FMCG major Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) today said it will integrate the food and refreshment categories in South Asia effective July 1.

"This integration will help HUL increase organisational agility and better serve local consumers while harnessing the advantage of global scale. The integration of these two categories is also in alignment with the structure of Unilever globally," HUL said in a regulatory filing.

On June 2, 2016, HUL had announced that it will split its F&R business into two separate units in line with its global category structure.

As per the new integration, Sudhir Sitapati Executive Director, Refreshments at HUL will be redesignated as Executive Director F&R and will be responsible for integrated F&R business.

Geetu Verma, Executive Director Foods, India will be moving to the Dutch port city Rotterdam as Global VP-Nutrition & Natural Platforms, Unilever.

"This is a new role designed to grow Unilever's presence in the health and well being sector," the company added.

HUL said the F&R business has delivered consistent growth in India.

"It lends significant scale to Unilever in the region and will continue to be a strategic priority for the business. The company believes this integration will help drive synergies, become more agile and consumer centric," it added.