Page 3 - Sanjiv Mehta

In medium to long term, rural looks promising: Sanjiv Mehta

Hindustan Unilever (HUL) reported muted volume and revenue growth for the three months ended March 2016 as the company, India's largest consumer goods maker, continued to feel the slowdown pangs in the sector. In a media interaction, HUL's managing director and CEO Sanjiv Mehta highlighted the way forward for the company. Edited excerpts:How painful is the rural slowdown for HUL?The rural market has slowed down. For several years, rural markets were growing twice the rate of urban markets. Then the gap began narrowing. It was more or less at the same level with urban in the last quarter and now it is growing lower than urban. So, the trend has been that rural is slowing. Rural contributes to 40 per cent of (sales) in our overall portfolio. So there is an impact.With the monsoon forecast being positive this year, do you see the tide changing?Monsoon should help especially in the areas where the drought has been severe. Also, the government has recognised the stress in rural areas and, t