Hindustan Unilever Limited (HUL) announced the launch of India Water Body, an initiative aimed to address the challenge of water scarcity in India.
Nitin Paranjpe, CEO & Managing Director, Hindustan Unilever, said, “It is estimated that by 2030, supply of water in India would be half of the demand for it. This is a crisis that has the potential to derail the economic and social development of the country and impact the health and livelihoods of millions of people across the country. We at Hindustan Unilever believe that what concerns the nation must concern us too. Therefore, we have launched India Water Body to drive water security for the country by 2030”.
The India Water Body will be conducting a nation-wide study to assess the demand-supply gap for water in India. The study will build on the available body of knowledge and engage multiple stakeholders to evolve an India water road map enumerating clear priorities and solutions for implementation.
Water management has been a key focus area for HUL in India across its entire value chain. HUL has consistently reduced water consumption in its operations, helped small-holder farmers to use water judiciously in agriculture and developed product innovations such as Surf Excel quickwash that helps consumers use less water while washing clothes.
HUL has been working for more than a decade in the area of water conservation in partnership with NGOs and local communities across the country, in locations which face acute water shortage. The success of these projects has been driven by establishing public-private partnerships involving the local communities. This has helped to not only sustain these projects but also to scale them. HUL has initiated projects in several States that will enable create capacity towards conserving more than 50 billion litres of water in the next four years (by 2015).
