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of its global prestige home and personal care brands to accelerate its push into premium categories in this market.“We were late to the China party, we will not be late to the India party,” Fernandez said at the Deutsche Bank Global Consumer Conference in Paris on Tuesday.China has emerged as one of the world's fastest-growing premium beauty markets over the past decade. Unilever was slower than rivals to build a meaningful presence in prestige categories in that market, losing the early-mover advantage and resulting in muted performance. Currently, China is the third-largest prestige beauty market for the London-headquartered company.In India, where its Hindustan Unilever subsidiary is the FMCG market leader, Fernandez said the dove soap-maker is already building a portfolio of premium brands with global potential and has listed the country as a priority market for launches.“We now have a portfolio of super-premium brands that will travel into India at the right time when the market develops,” he said, adding that several premium brands built in the US are already being internationalised across markets.The comments come as consumer goods companies across the board bet on affluent urban consumers, premium beauty segments and specialised wellness offerings to drive growth in India, one of the few major markets still delivering strong volume expansion alongside rising discretionary spending.Exponential growth opportunityAs the company shifts to a home and personal care pure-play strategy globally, Unilever said it is betting on India becoming the “largest exponential growth opportunity of the next decade as consumers move up the value chain.As part of this transition, the company is concentrating capital allocation behind premium brands, innovation and acquisitions in high-growth categories.“We will have 22% of our business in the United States building a portfolio of the future that will make them travel internationally,” said Fernandez. “This is where we are concentrating allocation of capital, building a portfolio of premium brands that can travel.”These include prestige and wellness labels such as Hourglass, Nutrafol, Liquid I.V. and K18, some of which have been acquired over the past few years as Unilever sought to strengthen its presence in fast-growing premium segments. The company said around 40% of its prestige business is already international and that brands acquired in the US are increasingly being expanded into overseas markets.India is also featuring prominently in Unilever’s acquisition strategy.Unilever chief financial officer Srinivas Phatak said the company is focusing on bolt-on deals primarily in the beauty and personal care segment and will be steering clear of any transformational deals.“It has to be the US and India, it has to be premium and differentiated, and it has to be more science and technology clinical, fitting with our capabilities, digitally native brands, and obviously brands which are in a superior and a fast-growing stage,” he said, reiterating the company’s belief in India’s premium beauty boom.The country contributes to 16% of the group’s revenue and acts as its second largest market after the US. At Hindustan Unilever, premium products already account for a third of sales as the company looks to increase this share to 50% to drive profitability.