New Delhi, May 31 -- Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL) expects demand conditions to improve this financial year, aided by broad monetary stimulus, lower food and crude inflation, and higher agricultural output, helping India's largest consumer goods company drive up its sales volume. For the fiscal year 2024-25, turnover surpassed Rs.60,000 crore for the maker of Dove soaps and Kissan sauces and jams. The company reported a 2% increase in sales, a similar rise in volume growth, and a 5% growth in earnings per share (EPS). Profit for the fiscal year improved 5% to Rs.10,644 crore. "Looking ahead, we expect demand conditions to improve gradually over the next fiscal year," Hindustan Unilever said in its annual report for 2024-25. "Macro conditions will benefit from monetary stimulus, lower food and crude inflation and higher agricultural output. In this context, our focus remains on driving competitive volume-led growth across our business." HUL said it had a "strong conviction" in the significant mid- to long-term potential of India's fast-moving consumer goods sector, fuelled by increasing affluence, substantial headroom for growth in per capita consumption and rapidly developing digital infrastructure that enhances market access and consumer engagement. HUL boasts a portfolio of over 50 brands spanning 15 categories, including packaged foods, home care, and personal care, and reaching nine out of every 10 Indian households. At 11:26am on Friday, the stock was down 0.22% at Rs.2,362.55 on the BSE, while the Sensex was trading 0.24% lower. In FY25, India's FMCG industry witnessed subdued demand in urban markets, although rural areas saw a gradual improvement in consumption. Commodity prices increased significantly, particularly in palm oil, tea and coffee, whereas crude oil, soda ash and skimmed milk powder were deflationary. "Despite this, we have maintained healthy gross margin at 50.3%," HUL said in its report. "During the year, we continued to generate fuel for growth with our end-to-end net productivity programme across all the lines of the P&L, leveraging buying efficiencies, smart formulations, driving logistics and manufacturing cost efficiencies, marketing efficiencies, net revenue management and accelerating simplicity through digital transformation," the company said. "We deployed the generated savings to build our brands and strategic capabilities, in line with our capital deployment strategy." HUL segmented its portfolio into core, future core, and market makers portfolios in FY25 to attract more customers. The company has revamped core brands like Lifebuoy, Vim, and Lakme, and launched more premium brands such as Liquid I.V. and Hellmann's Mayonnaise. It also acquired new-age personal care brand Minimalist for Rs.2,955 crore....