Berger Paints plans retail expansion in south and west India, will invest Rs.1,800 crore for new factories

Berger Paints' expansion plans come at a time when Grasim Industries launched its paint brand Birla Opus in February this year.

Berger Paints, India’s second-largest paint company in terms of market share, is planning to increase its retail presence in west and south India due to growing demand, Mint reported.

Berger Paints and its subsidiaries have 25 manufacturing plants in India. (Mint)

Berger intends to expand its retail network in the four south Indian states, as well as in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan in central and west India, Abhijit Roy, MD and CEO of Berger Paints told Mint in an interview.

The company used to install around 4,000 new paint tinting machines (machines used to mix colours to produce paints) per year earlier, he said. “We installed 7,300 last year. This year, we are planning to cross 8,000, and next year we may go to 9,000, ” he added.

The company plans to install 65% of these machines in new areas and the rest to fill gaps in existing places of operation, Roy told Mint. “In three to four years, we should be fairly represented in all of these places as well,” Roy said.

Berger’s expansion plans comes at a time when Grasim Industries, an Aditya Birla group company, launched its paint brand Birla Opus in February, the article read.

“Expansion has to be done piece by piece,” Abneesh Roy, executive director of research at Nuvama Institutional Equities told Mint. “A pan-India blockbuster approach has never worked.”

Berger’s plan includes investing Rs.1,800 crore over three years in opening plants at Panagarh in West Bengal and Khordha in Odisha, according to the report.

These production units will be operational by the first quarter of the financial year 2026-27, Roy said, adding that the investment will be made through internal accruals, meaning that the company will use its own funds, rather than raising it from outside.

Berger and its subsidiaries have 25 manufacturing plants in India, with a total capacity of about 1.27 million tonnes. Roy explained that the capacity expansion will help address supply issues in the eastern part of the country.

In east India, Berger was running out of capacity, resulting in plants being set up in Odisha and West Bengal to cater to the demand, he said.