Paint Cos Look To Raise Market Share

India's paint industry is shifting gears. With capex spending cooling, the battle for distribution, brand recall, and customer trust is intensifying. Established players and new entrants are vying for market share ahead of the festive season.

- Harsha Jethmalani

"For incumbents, utilization is around 70%, while new entrants are still scaling up, so overall, the sector's capital expenditure is expected to normalize from this fiscal. The focus has now shifted to distribution, with both incumbents and new entrants aggressively strengthening dealer networks and even directly engaging with painters," said Poonam Upadhyay, director, Crisil Ratings.

Paint companies are investing in product upgrades, innovation, backward integration, and advertising to boost brand presence. Asian Paints Ltd, in an interaction with Nuvama Research, noted that competitors targeted small and medium dealers with higher margins last year. In response, it formed a team to win back dealers, already seeing some return. Berger Paints' management in Q1 FY26 earnings call noted that reduced incentives are hurting dealer margins and pushing them back to established brands. Kansai Nerolac India and Akzo Nobel India also report similar trends.