CEO's growth correlation remark not meant to doubt GDP data: Asian Paints

Asian Paints Ltd on Wednesday said its Managing Director & CEO Amit Syngle's comments on correlation between growth in the paint industry and the GDP were not meant to question the sanctity of the GDP numbers.

In a clarification shared on the stock exchanges, Asian Paints said Syngle's comments are being "misinterpreted".

His comments were in response to a specific query on the correlation between the growth in the paint industry and the GDP, the company said.

"In that context, it was mentioned that the correlation of the paint industry growth with the GDP growth is varying, and we are unable to correlate both, unlike in the past," it added.

Historically, the paint industry was seen growing in multiples of 1.5 to 1.75 times the GDP growth; of late, this correlation was distorted.

"It was, hence, called out that there is a need for examining the GDP data to understand the reasons for this variance," the company said, referring to the recent social media posts and media articles claiming that Syngle "had allegedly raised doubts about the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of India, at the investor conference held on May 9, 2024".

"The comments were not, in any way, meant to question the sanctity of the GDP numbers as being projected in these posts and articles," the company asserted.

The Kerala unit of Congress had picked up Syngle's comments in the investor call to attack the BJP-led government at the Centre asking, "Is the fifth largest economy claim based on fake GDP data?"

In a post on X, Congress Kerala said, "What everyone was saying is confirmed by Asian Paints MD & CEO Mr. Amit Syngle. He said that there is no correlation between GDP numbers and underlying sectors. GDP is off by a huge margin!"

Sharing the transcript of the concall, it added, "So, the fifth largest GDP claim is also fake.