The Reinvention of a Titan: How India’s Paint Giants Are Fighting to Stay Relevant

This post is a continuation of “The Great Indian Paint-Off: Conglomerates vs. Incumbents”

For decades, the Indian paint industry was a picture of quiet dominance. Asian Paints, Berger, Nerolac—names so deeply entrenched in our homes that they became verbs, not brands. The competition was steady, margins rich, and consumers loyal. A 25%+ return on capital was not an ambition, it was baseline.

But every canvas meets its smudge. And for India’s legacy paint companies, it’s no longer business as usual.

The past year has brought what might be the most significant rebalancing the ₹80,000 crore industry has ever witnessed. Birla Opus, a newborn in corporate terms, has stormed into the market and taken 7% share within a year—almost entirely at Asian Paints’ expense. And just when the incumbents were trying to digest this disruption, JSW Paints launched its own counterattack by acquiring Dulux for nearly ₹9,000 crore. In a span of 18 months, the calm waters of the paint world have turned into a battleground.

At the centre of this storm is Asian Paints—the benchmark, the bellwether, the undisputed king that is now suddenly being asked if its crown still fits.

For a company that has compounded investor wealth for over four decades and built a distribution empire of over 75,000 tinting machines, this is unfamiliar territory. For years, it shaped the market with quiet control—setting prices, influencing product preferences, guiding dealers. But what happens when the playbook is no longer yours?

Asian Paints is answering this question not with panic, but with reinvention.

It has made a strategic push into industrial coatings, waterproofing, adhesives, and even home décor. It’s not just about painting walls anymore—it’s about owning the entire space behind those walls. Modular kitchens, furniture, lighting—segments once dismissed as distractions are now core to the Asian Paints growth thesis. The company is also investing heavily in backward integration—setting up plants to manufacture chemicals like VAM/VAE, aiming to reduce reliance on volatile imports and protect margins in a future of price wars.

But reinvention takes time, and the market is in no mood to wait. In FY25, Asian Paints saw its profits fall sharply—down 45% YoY in one quarter. Urban demand softened, pricing pressures mounted, and discounts became a survival tool rather than a promotional strategy. This is a company used to leading from the front; now it is forced to respond.

Berger and Nerolac have chosen their own paths. Berger has doubled down on premiumisation—focusing on high-margin categories and expanding its distribution where Asian Paints once held exclusive sway. Nerolac, meanwhile, has adopted a more cautious strategy—tightening costs and protecting existing market segments, even as it prepares for its own expansion in adjacent product lines.

Yet, all incumbents now face the same reality: their dominance is no longer guaranteed by legacy.

The new entrants—particularly Birla Opus—are not trying to play the old game better. They are writing new rules altogether. Offering dealers better margins, longer credit, even free tinting machines. They’re selling not just paints, but possibility—the promise that the dealer no longer needs to remain beholden to a single brand, no matter how storied.

This shift is not just economic—it’s psychological.

Asian Paints, for all its history, finds itself needing to re-win hearts it never had to fight for. And while its diversification strategy is sound, the challenge lies in execution: can it scale new categories without diluting brand equity? Can it maintain service excellence while operating in radically different business lines?

The answer is still unfolding. What’s certain is that the decorative paint sector in India is no longer a tranquil, cash-rich club. It is now a battleground of balance sheets, branding, and bandwidth. Conglomerates are here not just to nibble at market share—but to dominate.

This may be the end of the golden age of easy returns. But it could also be the beginning of a more dynamic, innovation-led phase for an industry that hasn’t had to look over its shoulder in decades.

Asian Paints, and others like it, are now being tested—not for their past brilliance, but for their present agility. If history tells us anything, it is that Indian consumers reward quality and trust. The question is: will that be enough in a market where brute capital and dealer disruption are the new paints on the palette?

The answer won’t come from quarterly earnings. It will be seen on every wall, in every home, over the next decade.