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The Indian paints industry has been valued at Rs. 43 bn. with annual consumption of 0.6 million tons. The industry has been growing at a CAGR of 8% to 10%. The industry can mainly be segmented into decorative and industrial paints with a rough distribution of 70% to 30% in favor of the former. This distribution is expected to move towards a 50:50 distribution.
The demand for decorative can be split into first time demand and demand for repainting. The first time demand is a derived demand and the growth in the demand for decorative paints is linked to the state of the housing sector and the government infrastructure sector. In turn the housing and infrastructure activity is dependant upon the state of the country’s economy. Cement and Steel are the first sectors that reflect the state of the economy, followed by the housing and infrastructure sectors, which affects the paints industry. Therefore, the demand for new paints follows the economic cycle with a lag of about 12 to 18 months. Empirical evidence shows that the paint industry grows at about 1.5 to 2 times the GDP growth rate.
The demand for repainting is a slow growing area, since India, as of now has not developed the culture of using paint as a fashion tool, therefore repainting is not done very often. But, this sector does show consistent growth, though it is slow.
The demand for decorative paint is also highly seasonal, especially for the repainting segment, the bulk of the demand being during the festivals seasons. The peaking of demand during specific seasons has been a unique feature of the Indian paint industry and has led to the introduction of such paints like Utsav by Asian Paints. The marketing activity is also stepped up during the festival season.