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BENGALURU -Hindustan Unilever Ltd, India's largest consumer goods maker, logged a 16.8% rise in quarterly net profit on Thursday, as price hikes helped offset increasing pressure from sky-high raw material costs.

Consumer goods makers had expected buying to pick up as pandemic restrictions eased, but high inflation has limited consumers' spending power and piled pressure on companies already grappling with rising raw material and shipping costs.

HUL, the Indian unit of British consumer goods giant Unilever, said profit came in at 22.43 billion rupees ($301.01 million) for the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with 19.21 billion rupees a year earlier.

Analysts on average had expected a profit of 22.55 billion rupees, according to Refinitiv IBES data.

HUL's earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization margin, a key measure of profitability, was 25.4% in the third quarter, above analysts' estimates of 24.69%.

The company, which owns more than 50 brands in India spanning breakfast spreads to personal hygiene products, said sales from its beauty and personal care segment rose 6.9%, while those from home care jumped 23%.

"Calibrated price increases were taken across fabric wash and household care portfolios to partly offset the significant inflation in input costs," the company said https://www.bseindia.com/xml-data/corpfiling/AttachLive/5ca17f7d-9d8d-4f30-bb54-2647e21b14ee.pdf.

Revenue from sale of products rose 10.4% to 129 billion rupees.