HUL Commences €100M Fragrance Innovation Hub in Mumbai

Hindustan Unilever Ltd. (HUL) has inaugurated the Unilever Fragrance Hub (UFH) at the IIT Bombay campus in Mumbai, making India the third country after the United Kingdom and the United States to host a facility within Unilever’s global fragrance innovation network.

The hub is part of Unilever’s €100 million investment programme aimed at building advanced, digitally enabled in-house fragrance creation capabilities across key markets. The facility is designed to accelerate product innovation and support the development of fragrances tailored to local consumer preferences.

Equipped with proprietary fragrance design software, real-time evaluation systems, and advanced compounding technologies, the Mumbai-based hub enables end-to-end fragrance development, testing, and optimisation. It is expected to support innovation across multiple product categories, including shampoos, body washes, deodorants, and laundry care products.

Located within the IIT Bombay campus, the facility is also intended to foster closer collaboration between industry and academia in areas such as science, technology, and data-driven fragrance development. HUL expects the partnership to strengthen research capabilities, support talent development, and enhance India’s role within Unilever’s global innovation ecosystem.

According to the company, the new hub will improve its ability to respond to evolving consumer preferences, enhance self-reliance in fragrance development and evaluation, and support the creation of premium, differentiated consumer products. The launch is aligned with HUL’s broader strategy of driving growth through innovation and premiumisation across its product portfolio.

News by Rahul Yelligetti.