Paint Market Slowdown a Temporary Phase, Says Birla Opus CEO

India’s decorative paints market slowdown is cyclical and will rebound shortly, said Birla Opus Paints Chief Executive Officer Rakshit Hargave on Tuesday. On the back of slow-moving sales, the company is still on pace to achieve a high single-digit market share by the end of FY25.

There are signs of a slowdown in the urban repainting cycle, which is affecting market leaders such as Asian Paints, whose decorative segment recorded only 1.6% year-on-year growth in the October-December quarter, according to the data from the industry. Hargave noted the decline in the urban market but proceeded to sound optimistic about a rebound.

“Over the past six to nine months, dealers have said that offtake has slowed down, particularly in cities. But, if we look at past trends, it’s just a cycle. The Market will recover soon. We will get better by the end of this quarter but for a broader recovery it will take another quarter or two,” he said at a media roundtable.

On Grasim Industries’ financial policy concerning its paints business, Hargave indicated that reporting the unit’s earnings separately would depend on the board’s decision. As of now, Birla Opus has not yet operated at full capacity. It has six target greenfield plants of which five are operational and Kharagpur (West Bengal) is likely to start full-scale production in early FY26 after weather damage delays.

Grasim has invested ₹10,000 crores in this paints business and has a planned total capacity of 1,332 million litres a year. Birla Opus is set up as much as a challenger brand to Asian Paints as a product (it has already taken market share from all other key players but especially from Asian Paints).

It would strive to achieve break even in three years from full operations when all six plants become commercially operational. “Do we feel good about that timeline?” Hargave said. “Yes, we have a very solid strategy in place, but the market is dynamic. We are nimble in our response.”

Located in Mumbai, he was speaking at the inauguration of a Birla Opus experience centre when he said that the company is also nearing the milestone point of onboarding 50,000 dealers by FY25. This will now be the focus of increased dealer productivity and stock to return going forward.