Hindustan Unilever’s second quarter earnings were in line with analyst expectations. The growth for the company was led by foods and refreshment segment.

“The 19 percent growth in foods and refreshment excludes the mergers and acquisitions of HFDs. We have had the excellent growth this quarter with tea, coffee as well as our foods portfolio,” said Sanjiv Mehta, Chairman and Managing Director of HUL.

Across the discretionary category, skincare and deodorant, business has been impacted, he said. “We believe that once people start stepping out, this will get back into its normal growth rate,” he said.

In the personal care space, Mehta added, “We are absolutely delighted with the progress that we have seen in the personal care. Our skin cleansing business is doing extremely well, we have got double digit growth in oral care, in hair.”

If there are lockdowns again, we will do our best to ensure that the consumers do not run out of our products, he said.

“These are essential products, given the experience the government will also do their best to make sure that anything in the space of essentials does not get disrupted even should we have the unfortunate circumstances of cases spreading again,” said Srinivas Phatak, Chief Financial Officer at HUL.