Citing Grasim’s ₹10,000 crore investment, Roy said, “They are formidable competitors and they have resources and capital. But we have faced quite formidable competitors and battled through.” However, he expects that there will be some battle on the ground. “There’s enough opportunity and the market is expanding. The new player will get a share out of the expanding market. We expect we will continue to maintain our market share,” he added.

The unorganised players in the paint manufacturing industry control a 25% market share. “They are responsive and agile. Their adaptability is strong. People think we can ride roughshod over the unorganised sector, but it doesn’t happen that way. They can respond to the needs of an industry, and quickly formulate and deliver. They have a low fixed cost. They can cut prices and compete with big players,” he added.

Berger Paints, which started the business as a British factory in 1923 from a factory in West Bengal and was taken over by Kuldip Singh Dhingra in the late eighties, has recently commissioned a 33,000 tonne/month plant at Sandila in Uttar Pradesh. With this, the capacity has increased by 45%. The capacity is enough for the next two years, said Roy.

“We will have one plant coming up in Panagarh in West Bengal which will start production probably by the end of 2025. The Panagarh plant would primarily in manufacturing construction chemicals and industrial paint. The capacity would be 15,000-20000 tonne per month,” he said. The investment would be around Rs 700 crore. “We will have to look for another plant in the east after this, which we will probably put up in Odisha at a later date,” he added.