Elvisha Fernandes

PGDM, 2013-15

2013014

The following article is taken from the magazine Forbes India, dated 3rd October, 2013

Asian Paints: Riding the Indian Middle Class

This article talks about the paint company Asian Paint's journey from its birth i.e in the year 1942 till date and how it has captured the paint industry in India. Asian Paints which started off in the year 1942, now is regarded as the top Indian market in terms of paint and similar products. it is now Asia's third largest paint company, behind Japan's Kansai and Nippon, and the world’s 13th largest. 

the company is not limiting itself to paints and similar products but has refashioned itself into a home decor company, hoping to suit and benefit from its urban segment.

KBS Anand, the MD and the Chief Executive of Asian Paints quoted that“There’s been a massive transformation in the Indian consumer,  wherein earlier, people used to paint when the walls were peeling. Now it’s about decor.” 

The company has launched many range of paint. In the year 2004, it came up with its premium range of paint called Royale Play which would add a different special effect to the interior walls. 

The company works as per their particular segment. As in for people in the urban segment, a house is like a status symbol, a decor. In order to suit their requirements, they're stores are outfitted with boards displaying samples of interior and exterior finishes, and there’s a consultant who provides computer visuals showing how a room will look when painted. Asian Paints also runs two high-end showcase stores, in Mumbai and New Delhi. These don’t sell any paint, but have walls of displays showing various shades and textures under different light settings.

The consumption of paints in the urban areas is growing fast, no doubt; but the consumption of paints in the rural areas is growing even faster, and that's where the company wooed small shopkeepers in the villages and tiny towns early because foreign companies dominated sales in the cities. When everybody was concentrating in the urban markets, they realised that there could be a even bigger rural market for their products. keeping in mind the likes of colour the rural India would prefer, it came up with dark aquamarine or deep daffodil colours, because dark shades were considered to be powerful.

Asian Paint's brand image and loyalt bought in loads of customers. Even after wll establishing itself in the market, it did not bow it's lead. its startegy was to find ways to stay close to the customers. In the late 1990s it started a customer helpline, which now gets 2,000 calls a month. It offers home-painting services in 13 cities wherein; an employee comes to a home, sizes up the job, brings in painters who cover up the furniture and do the work.

It sent out Happy Painting Guides to 300,000 customers last year. It provides colour consultancies, in which an employee with interior-design training comes to the home to suggest what can be done for the walls. It trains 8,000 painters a year in two-day workshops to ensure they apply its premium paint in the right way.

It is seen that everywhere multinational are facing the crunch of slowdown, so in this scenario everyone is going to try things in India. And as for Asian Paints its going to try on and on even though the competition gets stiffer and stiffer; since they want to be the leadership in the Long-run.