Grasim Industries Ltd., the flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group, will be launching its paints business in the March quarter of the financial year 2024. The company plans on offering a full suite of high-quality products in the decorative paints segment.
Aditya Birla Group Chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said the company intends to become a profitable No.2 player. "The company has over the past couple of years built a strong foundation to enable a successful business launch," he said.
"We have every reason to believe that we would be a very strong No.2 in the next five years," Birla told CNBC-TV18 in an interview in Davos at the World Economic Forum (WEF) 2022 meeting.
Grasim has already piloted the first-of-its-kind painting service in key metros and introduced a range of imported wood finishes. It has already set up an R&D facility in Maharashtra.
The Aditya Birla Group company forayed into the paints business in January 2021 with an initial outlay of Rs 5,000 crore, which doubled to Rs 10,000 crore in May last year.
Grasim's manufacturing plants are located in Haryana, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra and West Bengal and will have a total capacity of 1,332 million litres per annum (MLPA).
According to the company, the decorative paints industry in India is currently valued at Rs 70,000 crore and is witnessing double-digit growth year-on-year driven by rising consumer aspiration and the Housing for All push.
As of March this year, Asian Paints was the market leader in the paints industry with a 59 percent market share, followed by Berger at 18 percent and Kansai Nerolac at 15 percent.
Shares of Grasim have recovered from the day's low post the announcement and turned positive. The stock is currently trading 1 percent higher at Rs 1,950, which is a record high.
In reaction to the announcement, shares of Asian Paints are down to the day's low, currently trading 1.3 percent lower. Shares of Berger Paints are also off the day's high.
Click here to read more about the future of India's paint industry.
First Published: Sept 14, 2023 11:11 AM IST
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