Shalimar Paints is banking on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s affordable housing project to drive growth.
Ashok Gupta, Vice Chairman expects Shalimar to be able to post double-digit growth going forward. The company had posted losses over the last few quarters, but Gupta is hopeful the third-quarter numbers will be positive.
In a freewheeling chat with Moneycontrol, Gupta said, “Affordable housing will help us with growth significantly especially since we have a strong range of products catering to that segment.”
For this, Shalimar Paints will be focussing largely on the Southern and Western Zones of the country.
“September month was a bit challenging for us in the wake of recent losses, but we are certain to recover that in the later phase,” Gupta said.
The company reported a turnover of Rs 123 crore and a net loss of Rs 25 crore for the first six months of this fiscal (April to September).
The decorative paints segment is the major growth driver and contributor in terms of revenue for Shalimar Paints.
“Within decorative, emulsion is one category which has seen good growth. We took a few initiatives to push the growth in these segments especially the influencer segment and for us, it happens to be the painter community. This has spiked up growth in this segment,” Gupta said.
Emulsion is a water-based paint, with vinyl or acrylic resins added to make the finish hardwearing. This results in varying degrees of sheen – generally, the shinier the finish, the tougher the paint. It is largely used for interior walls and ceilings.
So far, the festive demand was positive for Shalimar Paints and with Christmas and New Year around the corner, Gupta is expecting this growth trend to continue.
On capacity expansion, Gupta said, “With the Nashik plant as our latest addition, we have been able to significantly improve our manufacturing output with a capacity close to 70,000 KL (kilolitres) per annum. With Nasik getting operational we will not be looking at increasing capacity in the near future.”
The Indian paints industry is worth Rs 50,000 crore. Asian Paints has the highest market share in the industry at 42 percent, followed by Berger Paints and Kansai Nerolac Paints at roughly 13-14 percent each. Akzo Nobel India is next with a share of around 10 percent. Shalimar Paints currently has a market share of around 5 percent.
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