Berger Paints to invest Rs 280 cr, net profit up 19.5% in Q1

Berger Paints India will invest Rs 280 crore over the next two-three years for expanding capacities in its plants located at Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, an official said on Friday.

The company will soon commence work for installation of water and solvent based decorative, industrial and protective coatings, resin, putty, emulsion and construction chemical manufacturing facility at an estimated investment of Rs 200 crore at Sandila Industrial Area in Uttar Pradesh, Chairman Kuldip Singh Dhingra told shareholders at the 94th annual general meeting.

Subject to obtaining all required consents and approvals in time, the project is likely to be completed in 2021, he said.

The phase II expansion of the automotive and general industrial and protective coatings plant at Jejuri near Pune in Maharashtra has also commenced, Dhingra said.

The plant will have an estimated capacity of 27,000 KL (kilo litre) of paints per annum and 12,000 mt (metric tonne) of resin per annum. This is likely to be completed in 2019-20.

Another Rs 80 crore would be pumped into Jejuri plant, the paint maker's CEO Abhijit Roy said.

This facility also has a powder coating plant and the fourth line of the plant with an estimated capacity of 325 mt per month is expected to be installed during the year, Dhingra said.

Speaking on the reduction of GST rates from 28 per cent to 18 per cent, Roy said the company is passing on the benefit of reduced rates completely to customers and expect this would increase consumption.

Berger and Rock Paint had entered into a memorandum of understanding and had carried out trial sales of automotive refinish paints in India. Both paint makers are in the process of forming a joint venture.

"I am optimistic that the high quality automotive refinish paints will have considerable demand in the Rs 2,000 crore market in India," Dhingra added.

The company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 134.88 crore in the first quarter of the current fiscal, up 19.5 per cent from Rs 112.88 crore in the year-ago period.

--IANS

bdc/anp/sed