'We should wait to understand the impact of rural on business'

Bellwether Hindustan Unilever (HUL) reported strong numbers for the three months ended March. HUL’s Chairman Harish Manwani, along with Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Sanjiv Mehta, responded to questions by Viveat Susan Pinto at a post-results conference on what led to the all-round performance in the fourth quarter. Edited excerpts:

What were the factors that contributed to double-digit volume growth for the second quarter in a row?

Mehta: The growth we saw this quarter was broad-based, though rural has improved. In some parts of the country, rural was ahead of urban (in the fourth quarter) and that is a