Rediff.com« Back to articlePrint this article

Berger Paints revamps business

September 28, 2005 14:25 IST
Just ahead of the festive season, paints major Berger Paints India Ltd has effected a re-branding exercise with a new logo, aiming to tap the top end of the Rs 8,000 crore (Rs 80 billion) paints market in India.

The Kolkata-based company has also said it expected its Russian plant to be commissioned in mid next year, which would have an initial capacity of 6,000 kilo litres per annum.

"Berger Paints has been mostly associated as a value for money brand. But with disposable income levels of Indians going up and a lot of discerning consumers ready to spend on home decor we felt the need to rebrand our product to tap the top end of the paints market," Subir Bose, BPIL managing director said in new Delhi.

As a part of the re-branding exercise, about 14 sub-brands of the company would be merged into eight sub-brands under the new range 'Lewis Berger', Abhijit Roy, senior general manager, marketing said.

The Lewis Berger range will have brands like Rangoli, Weather Coat, Silk, Walmasta, Luxol, Bison, Woodkeeper and Tuff placed at the top end, Roy added.

The company has about 19 per cent of the domestic market share with a total turonover of Rs 915 crore (Rs 9.15 billion), Bose said adding it was expecting to touch a sales turnover of Rs 1,050 crore (Rs 10.50 billion) this fiscal.

Bose said the top end paints market contribute about 10-20 per cent of the total market in India and has a huge potential for growth.

On the Russian plant, Bose said the company has completed land acquisition process and it has made an initial investment of $2 million.

"The total capacity of the Russian plant will be about 6,000 kilo litres per anum and is likely to be commissioned by June-July next year," Bose said.

He said the company was likely to utilise the Russian plant to cater to the markets of CIS countries in future. As of now, the company has been exporting its products from India to cater to the Russian market.

"Once the plant is commissioned we would stop exporting from India," he said. Currently, the company's exports contribute about Rs 5 crore (Rs 50 million) annually to the total sales, he added

Bose said although the paints industry has been feeling the heat of rising input costs, mainly that of crude, the company is likely to review prices at the end of this festive season.

"We won't tinker with the prices this season, but definitely after the season is over there's likely to be an increase of about 3-4 per cent," he said.
© Copyright 2024 PTI. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of PTI content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent.