Major players in the Indian paint industry

ASIAN PAINTS

Asian Paints India Ltd. (APIL) has the distinction of being the market leader in the paints industry and commands a market share of 37 per cent. It commands 38% in the decorative paints segment and 15% share in the industrial paints segment. The company's dominance is on account of its presence in almost all types of paints segments such as primers, wood finishes and metal paints besides wall paints while other players cater to niche markets, APIL sources its raw material requirements of pthalic anhydride and pentaerythritol from its own in-house plants, which provides it an edge over its competitors by reducing its raw material costs. The company has a strong presence abroad with joint ventures in Fiji, Tongo, Solomon Islands, Nepal, Mauritius and Australia. What keeps it ahead of its contemporaries is product innovation; for instance it was the first in the industry to tap the exterior paints segment.

A leading player in the industry, Berger Paints boasts of a market share of 15 per cent. The company also has the distinction of being the third largest player in the industry. It is predominantly engaged in the decorative paints segment, which is responsible for two-thirds of its sales, remaining earnings come from the industrial paints segment. Berger has two plants located at Howrah and Pondicherry for producing synthetic resins and paints respectively; besides these it also owns a wholly owned subsidiary Beepee coatings, a manufacturing unit in Gujarat. The company enjoys the benefits of technical tie-ups with Valspar Coatings, USA  and Herberts, Germany for heavy-duty coatings and automotive coatings respectively.   Berger Paints is a company with fairly sound fundamentals and a steady financial track record.

Goodlass Nerolac Paints Ltd. [GNPL] with its two wholly owned subsidiaries Saurashtra Paints Ltd., Ahmedabad and GNP Madras Ltd., ranks second in the industry with 18% market share. It is recognised as the leader in the industrial paints segment with a market share of 41 per cent.  The company has a tie up with Kansai Paint Company of Japan, a world leader in paints, which holds 65 per cent stake in GNPL. Having derived maximum income in industrial paints from Maruti Udyog Ltd. (MUL) until recently, the company has now widened its client base to include many other automobile manufacturers like Mitsubishi Lancer, Hyundai Motors and Telco. Significantly, the company continued to fare well despite the slowdown in the automobile segment and with the industrial paints segment likely to witness good growth in the medium term, GNPL appears to be in a fairly advantageous position and should be able to reap rich benefits in the future.

ICI INDIA

ICI India Ltd. (ICIIL) is a part of the Imperial Chemicals Industries (ICI), UK which is a world leader in paints.  The company has diversified interests and is not purely a paints company. Backed by a market share of 13 per cent, ICIIL is recognised as the fourth largest paints manufacturing company. The company, which was a leader in the premium emulsion paint market, has now lost out to Asian Paints in the same category.  The decision of the parent to invest more funds in the company could prove extremely beneficial.