Asian Paints: Giving its business model a fresh coat of paint

Over the past seven decades, Asian Paints has built India's largest paint dealer network of more than 70,000, from the 35,000 dealers in 2013-14 (FY14)

A temporary ban on paint imports during World War II resulted in an opportunity for domestic production. Sensing a similar opportunity, 26-year-old entrepreneur Champaklal H Choksey and his three friends — Chimanlal N Choksi, Suryakant C Dani, and Arvind R Vakil — set up Asian Paints in Mumbai.

By 1967, Asian Paints had become the largest paint company in India — a position it holds until this day (excerpts from The Unusual Billionaires by Saurabh Mukherjea, founder and chief investment officer of Marcellus Investment Managers).

Asian Paints, which controls a significant chunk (over 40 per cent in decorative paints) of