Published on April 14, 2014

Over past few years, the strong economic growth of India has propelled the Paint Industry to double digit growth and made the fastest growing paint market of Asia pacific. The per capita Paint consumption of India is still dreadfully low despite of fast growth. Over the next five years, this industry has been projected to rise annually at 12-13% from Rs. 280 billion in FY13 to around Rs. 500 billion by the fiscal year 2018.

Due to subdued demand across key sectors and rising inflation, the fiscal year 2013 was noted as an exigent year for the paint industry. Nearly 65% of the paint market is organized sector which is highly concentrated and a classic example of an oligopoly. Amidst an organized sector secretarial for the balance, the unorganized sector controls around 35% of the paint market and there are nearly 2000 units comprised of small and medium sized paint manufacturing plants.

The demand of paint comes from two wide categories such as decorative and industrial. Decorative sector such as wall paints, interior wall paints, wood finishes and enamel and ancillary products such as primers, putties etc. are the major segment. In India this sector accounts above 77% of the overall paint market. Whereas, the automotive coatings, powder coatings and protective coatings are the three main segments of the industrial sector. This sector is considered far more technology intensive than the decorative segment.

The size of the paint industry is estimated at USD 5.29 billion, however, Indian Paint Association (IPA) the apex body of the industry expects the industry to reach the level of USD 18.18 billion by 2020. Moreover, the demand for paints both in industrial and decorative segment is set to get higher, due to increase government funding for infrastructure and thereby depicting Indian paint industry to be perched for further growth.