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Unilever will put an extra €35 million into its research labs in Mumbai and Bengaluru, the company said on 3 November. The money arrives while its Indian arm’s beauty business is growing quickly: Hindustan Unilever’s Beauty & Wellbeing revenue rose 15.7 per cent to ₹4,319 crore in the July–September quarter.

Amber glass pump and dropper bottles of skincare products

What Unilever announced

Unilever said on 3 November that it will invest an additional €35 million to upgrade its two Indian research and development (R&D) hubs into an AI-led innovation network. Hindustan Unilever (HUL), its listed Indian subsidiary, put out its own release on 4 November.

The new money comes on top of more than €20 million spent on the same two sites over the past five years. According to HUL, that earlier spending built a liquids lab, the Unilever Fragrance House, an advanced manufacturing centre for soap bars, a packaging and flexibles design lab, and AI and digital modelling platforms.

Of the new €35 million, €5 million will be spread over five years to set up a “Bio-Futures” partnership in Bengaluru. Unilever says it will work on human biology, microbiome science, biotechnology and biomanufacturing. The releases do not name the partners.

India already houses more than 800 Unilever scientists, researchers, digital specialists and designers, HUL said, which makes it one of the company’s largest R&D bases anywhere.

What changes in Mumbai and Bengaluru

The two sites will do different jobs. Mumbai becomes a “Product Innovation Centre”. It will bring consumer insights, product and format science, packaging design, rapid prototyping and scale-up under one roof, with space for academics, start-ups and suppliers to work alongside Unilever’s teams.

Bengaluru stays a global science, technology and partnership hub, mixing applied and foundational science with digital work. It also houses India Foods R&D.

Across both, Unilever plans to use automated experimentation, predictive modelling and digital twins, which are virtual models used to test a formula or process before anything is made. Richard Slater, Unilever’s Chief Research & Development Officer, put it this way on the company’s website: “we can explore many more possibilities virtually before we make them physically.” Unilever has not given a figure for how much faster this will make product development.

Why India, and why now

HUL’s latest results explain part of the timing. For the quarter ended 30 September 2026, the company reported turnover of ₹18,071 crore, underlying sales growth of 15 per cent (its highest in 14 quarters) and underlying volume growth of 7 per cent, according to Goodreturns and InvestyWise.

Beauty & Wellbeing led. Segment revenue rose 15.7 per cent to ₹4,319 crore and segment profit grew 16.4 per cent to ₹1,235 crore, Goodreturns reported. InvestyWise reported underlying sales growth of 16 per cent for the segment, with double-digit volume growth, driven by premium skin care and hair care launches.

The rest of the personal-care business was weaker. HUL’s Personal Care segment, which includes skin cleansing, grew revenue 7.9 per cent to ₹2,617 crore, but volumes were flat and segment profit fell about 9 per cent to ₹449 crore. Margins are also under pressure: company-wide EBITDA margin was 22.6 per cent, down 140 basis points from a year earlier.

The faster-growing, higher-margin money is in premium skin and hair care, where new formulas drive sales. Faster labs serve exactly that.

The background: a fragrance hub and a capex push

This is not Unilever’s first India research announcement this year. In June, it opened a fragrance hub on the IIT Bombay campus in Mumbai, its third globally after the United Kingdom and the United States, IIFL reported. Unilever says the hub uses neuroscience, AI, digital modelling and robotics to study and speed up fragrance development.

In September, Personal Care Insights reported that HUL plans to raise productive capital expenditure to 3 per cent of turnover, up from about 2 per cent over the previous five years. The same report put HUL’s FY26 EBITDA margin at 23.6 per cent, about 70 basis points lower than a year earlier. HUL has framed its strategy around what it calls the “New India” consumer: younger buyers reached through social media and digital content.

What it means for shoppers aged 18–40

Unilever is not presenting the Indian labs as a back office. Slater said the work across the India hubs “will help shape innovation for Unilever globally”, according to Personal Care Insights. In plain terms, some of the hair care, skin care and fragrance formulas sold in India and abroad will be developed and tested here.

He gave two examples of the kind of work involved. One is Dove Hair Care’s Peptide Bond Strength Technology, which he described as going “beyond treating surface damage, helping reconstruct the bonds inside damaged hair”. Unilever’s page does not say whether that technology came out of India. The second is Surf Excel Matic Express, which he called “a laundry detergent we developed to deliver great performance in short, cold washing machine cycles”.

For younger shoppers, the likely effect is a faster flow of launches in premium skin and hair care, the segment already growing fastest for HUL. Faster launches also mean more new claims on labels, and buyers should keep reading ingredient lists rather than relying on the front of the pack.

The releases give no hiring target, so this is not a jobs announcement. The space set aside for start-ups and academics may matter more to India’s young biotech and materials-science companies, if Unilever follows through with partnerships.

For perspective, €35 million across two sites is modest for a group of Unilever’s size. It signals where ideas will come from more than it changes HUL’s finances.

What the company has said

“India is a critical global R&D center for Unilever,” Slater said in HUL’s release. Speaking about the market, he told Cosmetics Business: “India is also one of our most important growth markets. It is changing fast.” He added: “Consumer expectations are rising, needs are evolving and the pace of innovation keeps on accelerating.”

On Unilever’s website, he set out the ambition more bluntly: “We don’t want to just do today’s R&D faster.”

Priya Nair, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HUL, said: “India’s emergence as a global innovation powerhouse presents an extraordinary opportunity.” She also said, as quoted by Personal Care Insights: “This investment reinforces Unilever R&D’s long-standing commitment to India.”

Key numbers

€35 million: new investment in Unilever’s Mumbai and Bengaluru R&D hubs
€20 million+: spent on the same sites over the past five years
€5 million: for the Bio-Futures bioscience partnership, over five years
800+: Unilever scientists, researchers, digital specialists and designers in India
₹4,319 crore: HUL Beauty & Wellbeing revenue in July–September 2026, up 15.7 per cent
₹1,235 crore: Beauty & Wellbeing segment profit, up 16.4 per cent
15 per cent: HUL’s underlying sales growth, its highest in 14 quarters
Flat: volume growth in HUL’s Personal Care segment

What to watch

The Bio-Futures partners. Unilever has not said which universities, institutes or start-ups it will work with. Names will show how serious the bioscience push is.

Products from the Mumbai centre. The test is whether the new set-up produces skin, hair and fragrance launches that reach Indian shelves, and how quickly.

The split inside HUL. Beauty & Wellbeing is growing in double digits while Personal Care volumes are flat. Whether premium launches can keep that gap working in HUL’s favour, and whether margins stop slipping, will show up in the next quarterly results.

The capex target. HUL’s plan to lift productive capital spending to 3 per cent of turnover is the bigger number to track, since the R&D money is only one part of it.