BENGALURU (Reuters) - India's Hindustan Unilever posted a higher first-quarter profit on Tuesday, as much awaited rural recovery sparked demand revival in core segments.

The company, a unit of UK's Unilever ( UL ), reported a 2.7% rise in profit to 25.38 billion rupees ($303.23 million) for the quarter ended June 30.

Analysts, on average, had expected a profit of 25.31 billion rupees, according to data from LSEG.

($1 = 83.6978 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Ashna Teresa Britto in Bengaluru)