Denying an impact of slowdown on the Indian paint industry, Jotun India Private Limited, the Indian arm of Jotun Paints, one of the world's leading producers and suppliers of paints and coatings said that the industry is not yet prone to such effects. According to the company, the Rs 16,000 crore worth Indian paint industry is rather in a safer mode.
"The industry did panic initially but we have gradually realised that we are safe. While some players may have felt the pinch of slowdown, overall the Indian paint industry is growing consistently," said Percy Jijina, general manager - decorative, Jotun India Private Limited.
Recently, the company entered Saurashtra market by opening an exclusive customer retails stores. Jotun India plans to achieve around eight per cent market share in the Rs 16,000 crore paints market in India over next two years. According to company officials Gujarat has Rs 500 crore decorative segment paint industry and Jotun hopes to do sales worth Rs six crore sales during the calendar year 2009.
Jotun Paints India has invested Rs 125 crore to set up its manufacturing unit at Ranjangaon in Pune, which now delivers 50 million litres of wet paint and 10,000 metric tones of powder coatings annually.
According to Jijina, the Indian paint industry itself is growing at 12 per cent annually. The per capita consumption of paints in India is very low at 0.8 kg per annum against 4 kg in the south-east Asian nations and 22 kg in developed countries. "The global average per capita consumption is 15 kg. Hence, the growth opportunities for paint makers is big in India," said Jijina.
The industrial paints segment accounts for 30 percent of the paint market in India while the decorative paint segment accounts for 70 per cent of paints sold as against a global average of around 50:50.
