Unilever flags pricing pressure in India as inflation eases

GLOBAL CONSUMER GOODS major Unilever says the India market, its second-largest in the world, may see a deflation in pricing within skincare and fabric cleansing, as commodity inflation moderates.

- VIVEAT SUSAN PINTO

The India unit of the London-headquartered company reported flat price-led growth last week for the September quarter as it cut product prices within laundry and personal care to shore up sales growth. Volume growth at 2% for the period was the lowest in six quarters.

Addressing investors on Thursday, Unilever's outgoing CFO Greame Pitkethly said that a few categories in India were dependent on commodity prices.

"A couple of our categories in India, fabric cleaning and skin cleansing, are correlated to underlying commodity prices. Local competition has entered the market. We have to adjust pricing therefore in order to maintain competitiveness and our volume position,""Pitkethly said post announcement of Unilever's global results.