Hindustan Unilever Launches World-Class Fragrance Hub in Mumbai to Drive Global Innovation
Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) announced the inauguration of the Unilever Fragrance Hub (UFH) in Mumbai on June 2, 2026. This milestone marks a significant development in Unilever's global innovation strategy, strengthening India's position as a critical market and a major Research & Development center.The new Indian facility is the third global hub, following locations in the UK and the US. The launch is part of Unilever's overall €100 million program aimed at advancing in-house, digitally enabled fragrance creation capabilities.
The hub is located at the IIT Bombay campus. It is designed to integrate consumer insight, advanced science, and artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate innovation, enhance the overall product experience, and support premiumization across various product categories. Furthermore, the facility at IIT fosters opportunities for collaboration with academia, particularly in science and technology, data, and digital-first fragrance innovation.
Fragrance has become an increasingly vital driver of product desirability, premiumization, and brand preference across numerous categories within Unilever's portfolio. The India UFH brings fragrance design, development, and evaluation capabilities closer to one of the world's fastest-growing consumer markets. HUL notes that India's expanding consumption base provides rich and diverse insights, which the Mumbai hub will leverage to design fragrances capable of scaling globally and driving sustained growth.
Vivek Sirohi, Head of Unilever Fragrance House, stated that India remains one of Unilever's most critical growth markets and a major engine of innovation for the global business. He emphasized that the inauguration reflects continued investment in cutting-edge capabilities that unite science, technology, and deep consumer insights. This integration allows for faster local response, deeper market understanding, improved self-reliance in application and evaluation, and a greater ability to design fragrances by moving from the product and consumer context outward.
Vibhav Sanzgiri, Executive Director of R&D, Hindustan Unilever Limited, added that fragrance plays a critical role in elevating the consumer experience and performance of everyday items, including shampoos, body washes, deodorants, and laundry detergents. He described the India lab as a fully integrated fragrance creation, application, and evaluation facility. The center combines proprietary creation software, real-time data capture for evaluation, and advanced compounding technologies, enabling teams to design, test, and refine fragrances end-to-end while collaborating seamlessly with other Unilever fragrance hubs worldwide.
The establishment of the new hub reaffirms Unilever's deep commitment to India as a priority market and a global center of excellence for fragrance innovation.
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