londonnew delhi unilever racked up strong sales growth in india last year on the back of sharp prices increases thanks to its dominant market position and pent up demand among middleclass shoppers but industry experts said the british multinational should take care not to alienate poorer rural consumers which some analysts estimate account for nearly half its revenues in india after some signs they reined in spending last year as higher inflation took its toll the nation of 14 billion is one of unilevers three priority markets alongside the united states and china the company traces its roots in india back to 1888 and its local subsidiary hindustan unilever hul accounts for just over a tenth of group sales according to recent results advt hul last week reported a 16 rise in sales to 14986 billion rupees 184 billion in the quarter ended dec 31 powered by demand from wealthier urban shoppers the increase was supported by underlying price growth of 11 the company said well above indias annual inflation rate hovering around 6 if prices keep increasing rural consumers will move towards smaller pack sizes since theres a strain on wallets said alok shah a consumer analyst at indias ambit capital shah said poorer rural consumers could move to cheaper locallymade products instead of those produced by unilever globally unilever has raised its prices faster than its biggest rivals pg and nestle since the middle of 2021 partly due to its exposure to emerging market countries and food products where cost inflation has been high unilever said high energy costs and rising input prices hit the industry particularly hard in india a spokesperson said some input costs jumped between 50 and 100 last year hul the biggest consumer company in india by sales said last january that demand in rural india where average incomes are lower than urban areas had begun to slow as prices rose unilever did not respond to questions on how much of its revenues come from rural consumers in its results last week hul shared data from marketing research firm nielsen showing industrywide declines in sales volumes in rural areas of more than 5 in the last quarter it did not break down the sales figures by company advt hul chief executive sanjiv mehta said however the company had begun seeing signs of a pick up in rural sales as inflation eases and farm incomes rise again reuters spoke to several rural consumers in the western state of maharashtra indias second most populous region who said high prices had forced them to cut back manoj ballal a 45yearold wage labourer in satara district said he was looking to save money on consumer goods after everything from his kids education to medicine had risen in price weve reduced the use of edible oils as theyre really expensive he told reuters instead of tworupee shampoo sachets we buy onerupee sachets we buy biscuits only occasionally for the children pricing power