Hindustan Unilever Q3 profit beats estimates as India shoppers buy more

MUMBAI, Jan 19 (Reuters) - Hindustan Unilever Ltd (BSE: HINDUNILVR.BO - news) , the Indian unit of Anglo-Dutch consumer group Unilever Plc (NYSE: UL - news) , reported an 18 percent rise in quarterly profit, beating estimates, helped by a revival in consumer spending and lower raw material costs.

The company, Asia's largest consumer goods maker by market capitalisation, has been hurt in the last few quarters by weaker consumer demand in Asia's third-largest economy that grew less than 5 percent in the past two fiscal years.

The company said on Monday its domestic consumer business grew at 8 percent during the quarter.

A sharp easing of inflation since September, an improvement in consumer sentiment on hopes of a revival in economic growth and a fall in commodity prices have pushed the Hindustan Unilever stock up nearly 25 percent since October.

Hindustan Unilever's standalone net profit for the three months to Dec. 31 rose to 12.52 billion rupees ($202.85 million), up from the 10.62 billion rupees a year earlier, the company said in a statement on Monday.

Analysts were expecting the maker of Dove soap, Sunsilk shampoo and Lipton tea to make 10.81 billion rupees in profit, according to Thomson Reuters data. ($1 = 61.7200 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Mumbai; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)