Global players up footprint

The last few years have seen many of global paint makers entering India or expanding their presence here.

Sherwin Williams, the fourth-largest paint maker and a key player in decorative paints, recently acquired Nitco Paints for an estimated Rs 200 crore. Nitco makes speciality exterior paints and coatings.

PPG Industries (the fifth-largest player), which has an equal joint venture with Asian Paints for automotive paints, is setting up another plant in India, near Pune for non-automotive paints. Nippon Paints, which has licensed automotive paint technology to Berger Paints, is setting up two plants in India (one in Chennai and other near Gurgaon).

''The Indian paints market is worth Rs 11,500 crore, and growing at a rate of 12 per cent a year. Even if a company can get a one per cent share of the market, they have a roughly $30 million business. That's a decent size to start with,'' said a paint industry observer. ''Maybe global majors see a lot of growth and opportunities here. The world sees India differently today. Every CEO wants to have an India strategy,'' added a senior executive with an Indian paint major.

Indeed, many of the world's top paint manufacturers are already here on their own by investing here or have technical collaborations with Indian companies. Kansai Paints, Japan, owns over 65 per cent equity in Kansai Nerolac (formerly Goodlas Nerolac), the second largest paint manufacturer in India, while Dupont has licensed Nerolac technology for automotive OEM coatings.

BASF (the ninth-largest player) manufactures automotive paints (for OEMs and refinishes) through BASF India. Dupont (the sixth-largest player) and Akzo Nobel import auto refinishes, which are sold through retail outlets.

Akzo Nobel, which closed its acquisition of ICI on Monday, has been operating in India through a subsidiary, Akzo Nobel (India) Ltd, which manufactures marine paints, high-performance coatings, powder coatings and can coatings. 1998, Akzo Nobel acquired Courtaulds, which had a presence in India.

Sigma Kalon, which was recently bought by PPG Industries, operates in the protective coatings and marine coatings space through a small office in India. Valspar's entry can only enrich the colour of the paints landscape in India.

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How they stack up*

1. Akzo Nobel (The Netherlands) $7.8 billion

2. Henkel (Germany) $6.921 billion

3. ICI Group (UK) $6.387 billion

4. Sherwin-Williams (USA) $6.348 billion*

5. PPG Industries (USA) $6.324 billion

6. DuPont (USA) $4.095 billion

7. RPM (USA) $3.008 billion

8. Valspar (USA) $2.978 billion

9. BASF Coatings (Germany) $2.935 billion

10. SigmaKalon (The Netherlands) $2.386 billion

* Based on annual sales of paint, coatings, adhesives & sealants

Source: coatingsworld.com