Hindustan Unilever, the country’s largest consumer goods maker, is “obsessed” with growing volumes and is doubling down on flash trade, a channel that has been growing rapidly in recent years.

“India is truly becoming an omnichannel market and different channels are becoming important across India. For us, fast commerce has doubled quarter-on-quarter. Fast trade today already accounts for 3 percent of HUL’s total revenue.” Priya NairHUL’s managing director and managing director, said on Thursday.

He noted that the company has created a dedicated commerce organization as part of a broader strategy to create dedicated systems and processes for different channels so that they are serving consumers from whatever channel they shop.

“This is not just an investment in people, it’s also an investment in technology, systems and processes, whether it’s customer development or supply chain. And so end-to-end, we’re investing to double down behind those channels,” Nair said.

In recent years, fast commerce has become a major growth channel in India’s retail and consumer goods landscape, with more and more people ordering everything from groceries to even ready-made garments and electronic accessories on platforms like Swiggy Instamart, Blinkit and Zepto, where products are delivered within minutes.

India’s e-commerce market is estimated to have reached Rs 64 billion in the financial year ending March 2025 and is expected to triple to Rs 2 billion by 2028, according to a study by ratings agency CareEdge last year.

The tremendous growth being seen is prompting other consumer goods manufacturers to increase their focus on fast-paced commerce as well.

“In today’s fast-paced trade, because there is instant gratification, occasion-driven consumption, which is happening, there is a very clear acceleration, which is happening on the indulgence and impulse side,” Vipin Kataria, chief commercial officer at biscuit maker Britannia, said in a post-earnings call on Wednesday.

He said the company intended to launch many digital brands, which will add to the overall e-commerce profitability story.

HUL on Thursday reported a consolidated net profit of Rs 6,603 crore for the October-December quarter, up 121% from a year ago. It is worth noting that the profit for the last third quarter included an exceptional gain of Rs 4,516 crore from discontinued operations, following the demerger of its ice cream business. Excluding exceptional items, profit after tax rose 1% to Rs 2,562 crore.

Revenue for the quarter rose 6% from a year ago to Rs 16,235 crore, with volumes growing 4%.

Last September, the Goods and Services Tax was revised, with the GST on most items of daily use reduced from 12% and 18% to 5%. According to company officials, there have been early signs of recovery in growth.

“Going forward, we expect the operating environment to remain conducive for a sustained recovery in consumption aided by various factors,” said Niranjan Gupta, chief financial officer, HUL. Expect growth in FY2027 to be better than FY26

“We’ve been very clear that we’re going to be obsessed with volume-driven revenue growth,” Nair stressed separately.