Hindustan Unilever is planning to cut 10%-15% of jobs to protect profitability

India’s largest consumer goods company is planning to hand out pink slips in a bid to reduce costs.

The Hindustan Unilever (HUL) is mulling over cutting jobs by 10-15% as its Dutch parent wants to reduce costs across markets.

However, the exact number will be known by the end of April only. In India, HUL employs around 18,000 people across factories and offices.

Unilever said job cuts come after they want to focus on increasing its margin targets.

Global CEO Paul Polman committed to the board his strategy to cut costs sharply to protect profitability as it aims to prove that it can deliver growth following its rejection of a takeover attempt by rival Kraft Heinz for 115 billion pounds in February.

"Unilever is conducting a comprehensive review of options available to accelerate delivery of value for the benefit of their shareholders. The results of the review are expected later this month," an HUL spokesperson told ET.

HUL has a five-level management structure, with the CEO at the top. Level four consists of vice presidents, while general managers are at level three. Assistant managers and junior managers or frontline executives make up the remaining two levels.

"With GST implementation, there will be reduction in warehouses and supporting infrastructure, resulting in some job losses. But India is still one of the better-performing markets for Unilever and the restructuring will not be as severe as in other markets," Abneesh Roy, senior vice president at Edelweiss Financial Services, told ET.

With annual net sales exceeding Rs 32,400 crore, HUL contributes about 14% of the parent's emerging markets business, which accounts for about 57% of its total sales.