Berger's PAINT BALL BATTLE

BERGER PAINTS IS FOCUSING ON NEW AREAS SUCH AS WATER-PROOFING AND CONSTRUCTION CHEMICALS TO STRENGTHEN ITS CORE BUSINESS AND STAVE OFF COMPETITION FROM NEWER PLAYERS

- KRISHNA GOPALAN

TWO YEARS AGO, in peak summer, Abhijit Roy was on a routine visit to Nagpur. It was an oppressively hot afternoon, and the MD & CEO of Berger Paints was in deep conversation with dealers and a bunch of contractors. Such interactions often lead to a path-breaking idea. That day was no exception. “The water from the tap is unbearably hot. We have to wait for it to cool down,” said a contractor, imploring Roy for a solution. The MD & CEO smelled an opportunity and, once back at the company's Kolkata headquarters, called in the top team. The task: create a product to cool down water in plastic as well as concrete tanks. “We needed something that could sit on any surface,” says Roy. A combination of a grip primer, a heat reflecting coating with an anti-dust layer to maintain the efficacy of the coating led to the breakthrough—the just-launched Berger Paints’ Tank Kool. Given that large parts of the country are hot for long periods, the product can sell across markets.

PAINT POWER

1 Berger Paints is the second-largest player with a 21% share; its strongest markets are North and East

2 The company was established in 1923 and after multiple changes in ownership was acquired by the Dhingra family in 1991

3 The Indian paints industry is $9 billion in size, with a 70:30 split between decorative and industrial

4 New entrant Birla Opus comes with deep pockets and a cement business that has a strong distribution network

5 Berger Paints is looking at construction chemicals and waterproofing as strong revenue drivers