Delhi HC reserves order on HUL plea against Beco ads alleging skin irritation

Mumbai: The Delhi high court on Monday reserved its order on Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL)’s plea seeking to restrain home-care startup Beco from running advertisements alleging that products such as Vim and Surf Excel can cause skin irritation and allergies.

An order passed by the division bench on 2 September rejected Mumbai-based Beco’s objection to the plea being heard in Delhi. They argued that HUL and Beco have their offices registered in Mumbai, and the hoarding was put up there. The bench noted that Beco had also put up hoardings in Delhi and that its Goods and Services Tax (GST) office is registered in Delhi.

At the centre of the dispute is Beco’s ‘#WarOnWhatsHidden’ marketing campaign, which names HUL’s products and highlights synthetic compounds like Benzisothiazolinone and Linear Alkylbenzene Sulfonate. HUL told the court that while companies are free to advertise their own merchandise, claiming that a competitor’s goods are physically harmful crosses the line into unlawful defamation.

The case highlights the rising tension between legacy consumer-goods firms and eco-focused direct-to-consumer brands in India. In April, HUL itself recently settled a separate dispute with rival Honasa Consumer (the parent company of Mamaearth and The Derma Co) over sunscreen claims, highlighting how aggressive claims around ingredients and safety have become a primary battleground for market share.

The Bench also made its finding final and sent the case back to the single judge, Justice Anup Jairam Bhambhani, directing that it be heard on merits. They also directed that the issue of territorial jurisdiction "will not be permitted to be re-agitated," as mentioned in the order copy seen by Mint.

Email queries sent to HUL and Beco were not answered till press time.

Senior counsel Amit Sibal, representing HUL, argued before the single judge on Monday that Beco had crossed the limits of permissible comparative advertising by portraying HUL's products as harmful and urging consumers to switch to its products.

Founded by Aditya Ruia, Akshay Varma, and Anuj Ruia in 2019, Beco is a Mumbai-based eco-friendly consumer products maker. The company has investors like Titan Capital Winners Fund, Asian Paints promoter Manish Choksi, Rukam Capital, and Synergy Capital, among others.

It has products in the home care and personal care segments, such as dishwashing liquid, floor cleaner, laundry liquid, facial tissue, and bamboo toothbrush.

Beco also says its own laundry and dishwashing products are formulated without BIT and LAS. The startup reported revenue of ₹111 crore in FY25, with a loss of ₹21.7 crore, according to market intelligence platform Tracxn.

“Our products are completely safe, and they absolutely meet all safety standards, standards that are put by BIS and standards that we maintain for consumer safety," HUL chief executive Priya Nair had said at HUL's Capital Markets Day conference on 4 September.

"We tested levels of LAS & BIT in Beco's products and the third-party products shown in the campaign at independent NABL-accredited laboratories," said Beco founder Aditya Ruia in an email response to Mint. "We stand by our advertisements as apart from the test reports, we reviewed publicly available scientific literature about the effects of BIT and LAS, which concluded that they can cause skin irritation and allergies. The test reports and the scientific literature have been uploaded on our website," he said.