Asian Paints is one of the oldest and one of the most prominent multinational paint companies in India.The company was started by four friends in Mumbai named as Champaklal Choksey, Chimanlal Choksi, Suryakant Dani and Arvind Vakil.The company is engaged in the business of manufacturing, selling and distribution of paints, coatings, products related to home décor, bath fittings and providing related services. Asian Paints is India's largest and Asia's third largest paints corporation.
EXPANSION THROUGH THE YEARS
Asian paints is considered a market leader in the Indian paint industry with operations spread across 15 countries. It has 26 manufacturing plants globally, including plants in India. While Asian paints derives 70-80% of revenue from paint manufacturing, the company is also into chemicals, wall covering, waterproofing, adhesives, sanitizers and kitchen and bath fittings. Asian paints commands nearly 50% market share in the domestic paint market and slightly over 60% share in decorative paints business segments in the country. Its product range and extensive distribution network are strong points for its market dominance. The company derives nearly 84% of its revenue from the decorative paint business segment. The remaining revenue of around 20% comes from international business, industrial paints and home improvement business segments. Asian Paints has a rich history of new products with innovation being at the heart of these developments. Most of the new products launched with innovative cutting edge technologies have emerged from scouting, selecting, redefining and brainstorming these ideas collected in the portal. Many products in waterproofing, exterior and interior decorative paints, décor finishes etc have emerged out of these. Extensive and deep-dived work is happening in various technological platforms like waterborne dispersions for speciality applications, waterproofing technologies, indigeneous developments for protection and aesthetic enhancements in industrial and powder coatings, enamels, foray in health and hygiene coatings etc. Asian Paints reported annual average revenue growth of 8% (CAGR) between FY21 and FY17, and its profit during the same period grew around 13%.
Asian Paints have invested in technology that helps achieve operational efficiency. This might have allowed Asian Paints to keep the price hike to dealers bare minimum, unlike competitors. The distribution network and pricing advantage have helped Asian Paints penetrate the Indian markets better than its peers.
BRICK WALLS FORM CANVAS
Asian paints has a huge collection when it comes to decorative paints. It has a range of 2200 colours and textures. The colours are divided according to their temperature , their tonality and the basis of the interiors. In the interior plastic paint category itself, there are 6-8 different kinds found like, Tractor Emulsion, Premium Emulsion, Royale Luxury, Royale Matt, Royale Shyne, Royale Aspira, Royale Atmos etc. All are best in class for different usages and characteristics. Apart from the above plastic paints, there are other interior paint products like – Royale Play, Distemper, Stencil, etc.The paints have specialised features like the Tractor Emulsion advance comes with antifungal shield,gives a rich matte finish and is fortified with stain guard technology. With time, the special features in the paints have increased. Now there are a variety of low odour paints, there are paints which shine with light, prevent fungal growth in the walls, High-Sheen finish, eco-friendly, anti-bacterial and fire spread resistant.
The industrial paints segment consists mainly of powder and protective coatings, industrial coatings and resin manufacturing. These cater primarily to automobiles and coatings for industries such as metal components, railings etc. During Covid-induced economic slowdown, industrial paints faced sluggish demand.
EMBRACING SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES
Asian Paints with its innovation has successfully maintained consistency in being the leader in the paints industry. This company has been innovating products for 70 years and each year they push their limits and set greater benchmarks for themselves. Through these years they've come up with brand new exciting concepts such as Colour World, Home Solutions, Colour Next and Kids' World. The company serves customers over 65 countries now and is committed to manage its operations including deployment of resources using principles of sustainable development to minimise impact on the environment and communities. Asian Paints complies with all statutory requirements. The company considers compliance with statutory EHS requirements as the minimum performance standard and is committed to go beyond and adopt stricter standards. They plan to work in partnership with the government and industry associations for policy and regulatory reforms related to the environment. They also plan to annually publish their environmental performance to all stakeholders. They are committed to protecting the environment by adhering to the highest operational standards for handling hazardous materials.They have pledged on preventing Pollution & leveraging the 3R (Reduction, Recycle, Reuse) principle and plans to move towards zero industrial effluent generation and zero hazardous solid waste generation.The company is trying to minimise the impact of end-of-life plastics generated out of our packaging material.They have also focused on reducing energy-intensity, carbon-intensity and increasing the contribution of energy from renewable sources.
