Asian Paints' Indonesian venture to take more time

Asia's third largest paint company Asian Paints Friday said its planned manufacturing unit in Indonesia will take some more time to actualise with land yet to be acquired.

"We have just got approval for setting up the company to manufacture. Now we have got to acquire land and then get approval for land, then we have to get environmental clearance," the company's managing director K.B.S. Anand said on the sidelines of the 27th Indian Paint Conference here.

He said the process clearances may take upto two to three years, similar to the processes in India.

"Indonesia is like India... in countries like India you spend about two to three years for approval before you start construction - that is the difficulty," he said.

Poised to largely cater to the decorative paint segment, the company said the plant would have an initial capacity of about 25,000 kilo litres per annum and may be spread across 25 to 30 acres.

In August last year, the company had announced its plans for setting up a greenfield plant in the southeast Asian country.

The company said its international business contributes 15 percent to its annual turnover and its largest international revenue contributor - Egypt - has been stagnant for three years.

Also, the company is presently scouting for land and in talks with some states in south India to set up a 600,000 kilo litre per annum capacity plant to be spread across 130 acres. The total investment for the plant in south India will be to the tune of Rs.2,500 crore.

Now, it has plants in Hyderabad and Chennai in south India and eight other plants in the rest of the country.