Asian Paints

Asia’s fourth & worlds 5^th largest paint company, with a turnover of Rs. 170.85 billion. AP erstwhile Asian Paints currently operates in 16 countries and have 25 paint manufacturing facilities in the world. The company is servicing consumers in over 65 countries around the world.

CEO	K. B. S. Anand IIT Bombay IIM Calcuta
Gross Revenue	INR 15,997.5 Cr
Mission	Asian Paints aims to become one of the top five decorative coatings companies world-wide by leveraging its expertise in the higher growth emerging markets. Simultaneously, the company intends to build long term value in the industrial coatings business through alliances with established global partners.
Market Share	54.1% in India’s Paint market
Logo	Apparently represents "A more meaningful and personalized engagement with the increasing number of interior décor consumers in the home, retail and commercial segments across India”

During World War II and the Quit India Movement of 1942, a temporary ban on paint imports left only foreign companies and Shalimar Paints in the market. Which was seized by 4 friends by starting "The Asian Oil & Paint Company" in February 1942. The company became the leading paints manufacturer in the country by 1967.

Reference: The Unusual Billionaires

1942	4 Partners start a company by randomly choosing a name from telephone directory on Foras Road Bombay and “The Asian Oil & Paint Company” is born
1950	“Gattu” one of First brand mascots in India created by R K Laxman
1991	“Asian paints Royal” first premium product launch in the market
1998	50:50 joint venture with PPC Industries USA & Asian paints colour world is born
1999	Asian paints.com goes live “Har Ghar Kuch Kehta” campaign launched
2001	Asian paint acquires a burger International Singapore and Scib paint idiot
2000	New brand identity comes up
2003	“Asian Paints Colour Next” is launched
2005	Asian paints bring “Royal Play” to the game
2007	Asian paints Royal Shine Introduced
2009	One of a kind signature store “Colour” Launched in Mumbai
2011	Asian paint makes it to the Forbes Fab 50 List
2012	Asian paint gets new brand look Turner of 10,000 crores crossed Asian paints Royal Expedia is mast
2013	Asian paints request 51% stake in sleek and Interest kitchen space Vision 1318 established
2014	Asian Paints “EZY Colour” Launched Asian Paints launches front end sales of ESS Bathroom Fittings Acquires 51% Kadisko Chemical Industry Plc
2015	Overseas Expansion Acquires 51% stake in Kadisco Paint and Adhesive Industry Share Company, Ethiopia.
2017	Overseas Expansion Acquires 100% stake in Causeway Paints Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. in Sri Lanka.

: Page 6 to 9 Annual Report 2016-17

Mascot: 

Launched in 1954 Created by R. K. Laxman "Gattu" – a mischievous boy with a paint bucket in his hand was Asian Paint’s mascot till its withdrawal in the 90s. Advertisements at that time said 'Any surface that needs painting needs Asian Paints' . They found appeal with the middle-classes. He was used only in print advertisements and packaging till 1970s and by 1990s was also seen on television advertisements. Gattu is as familiar to Indians like Amul’s moppet girl. It was withdrawn because AP was trying to shake off its mass-market tag for a more premium appeal in the 21st century. There is a famous tale about naming this mascot, where the naming was done by running a campaign ‘Give Me a Name contest, offering a prize of Rs 500 for the best name. 47,000 entries poured in, and the winning name, of course, was ‘Gattu’. Sales apparently went up 10-fold over the next four years after launching this mascot.

Reference: Economic Times Business Standard

Tractor Distemper: In 1950s the company launched a "washable distemper", which was a balance between the cheap dry distemper that peeled easily and the more expensive plastic emulsions. The company used "Don't lose your temper, use Tractor Distemper" in their initial advertisings. Reference The Unusual Billionaires

Rankings

1. Top Ranked Indian company in the “Forbes Most Innovative company List” in 2017 (Ranked 8th in the world)
2. Asian Paints included in the list of India's Super 50 companies by Forbes India (August 2017 issue)
3. Asian Paints was ranked 10th amongst the Top paint companies in the world by Coatings World - Top Companies Report 2017 (July 2017 Issue) Reference

Share Price Trend The share price declined suddenly in 2016 December because the paint companies' key raw materials are derived from crude oil & the oil prices extended gains as producer cartel OPEC and Russia agreed to rein in a global oversupply. Reference

Various Business Units in Asian Paints Limited

DECORATIVE INDIA BUSINESS This business unit has products like Luxury and premium emulsions, Interiors category, Decor Waterproofing solutions.

Brands

1. Royale: Premium popular paints, endorsed by Saif Ali Khan
2. Apex Ultima
3. Tools for painting eg. Rollers
4. Wood Finishes Emporio’, ‘PU-Palette’ and ‘APPU’ [gallery ids="180,181,182,178,177,179,183" type="slideshow"]

Innovaion The company launched ‘Ultima Protek Duralife’ which is only painting system in the world to offer fifteen and ten years’ warranty on performance and waterproofing, respectively.

Its not only about walls, Asian paints have created completly new categories like Door Paints.

Innovative Painting Accessories like Stensils

Sales Stores Categories

By Asian PaintsAsian Paints has different kinds of showrooms for different class of products and target segments. All the showrooms are classified as followed.

Asian Paints Colour World: 3^rd Party operated stores, acting as sales points. Most of the mass market products are sold through these shops without much of experience options.

AP Homes Store One stop shop for all your home décor needs. Products range much more than paint & wide range of designer vignettes or walk through an amazing world of wood, bath fittings, decorative lightings, Soft décor. The stores also offer services by décor experts & experience digital visualization to envision your dream home.

Colour Ideas Stores are bringing new dimensions in the world of wall painting. Gone are the days when painting was seen as a job to be left to the experts, when painting meant weaving out the entire look of your room as per imagination. Today, Colour Ideas is crafted by internationally acclaimed retail design firms, and offers you right mix of inspiration and detail, with special panels for special effects, latest finishes, and trendy colour combinations. More than 150 cities offering consumer a number of décor choices for their home.

Not Impressed with the text?

Still Not Convinced? Have a look at the 3D Demonstration available before you visit the store by clicking here.

Services Business Asian Paints Ezycolour Home Solutions (APEHS) is the painting arm of the Company. The Proposition of Asian Paints in service business is on time painting. Have a look at the commercial.

To give such on time & high quality services asian paints has opened a academy to train painters.

Publishing www.beautifulhomes.com was launched in October 2016 as an online décor magazine

INTERNATIONAL OPERATIONS Egypt, is the largest International unit of the Company. Except which major presence is in the following countries.

Ethiopia	Nepal	Oman	Bahrain
UAE	Jamaica	Trinidad	Fiji
Singapore (BIPL)	AP Shrilanka	Mauritius	Singapore

HOME IMPROVEMENT BUSINESS Vision of being a complete décor solutions provider to help customers create their dream homes, the Company forayed in the Home Improvement business 3 (three) years back. Divisions

1. Asian Paints recently acquired Sleek which today enjoys the exclusivity of being the only player in the Kitchen space that is into both ‘Kitchen Components’ and ‘Full Kitchen Solutions’.
2. Projects and AID (Architects and Interior Designers)
3. Bath fittings business
4. Sanitaryware range launched in March, 2016

INDUSTRIAL BUSINESS

1. Automotive Coatings: PPG Asian Paints Private Limited (PPG-AP) PPG-AP, the first 50:50 Joint Venture of the Company with PPG Industries Inc., USA for manufacturing Automotive, OEM, Refinish, Marine, Packaging and certain Industrial Coatings
2. Marine and Packaging
3. Non-Auto Industrial Coatings

Marketing at Asian Paints

Before we look into modern marketing at Asian Paints lets see the first Asian Paints TV advertisement which was aired in mid 70s.

Today according to Asian Paints are selling a feeling of belongingness to home. Which they do by associating meanings to colour. It's not a simple task to do. A lot of marketing research goes behind making low involvement category a brand. Look at how Asian Paint goes about finding what meaning a colour carries in our mind.

After associating a colour with a concept, Asian paint has to find how to communicate that meaning to every one, that needs expert brains working creatively over the concepts.

But how do you do this again and again? That too when you are the market leader? The answer lies in a well structured approach. Which Asian Paints calls "Colour Next". Asian Paints decipher's societal trends at a time when the world at large is feeling a push towards standardisation and the pulls of traditional roots, like culture, colour where they decode colours . By bringing together designers, makers, artists and influencers, to bring  only one thing more liberating than the freedom of expression. The freedom of interpretation

If your really interested in knowing how Asian Paints decodes trends before anyone does it? Find out everything about the process going behind it Here

The journey just starts at Asian Paints by Identifying which shades will resonate with our hearts, But the real effort goes much beyond finding the right shades. Asian Paints is number one Paint company because they know how to influence the influencer in paint buying, The painter. Who strives for recognition. Asian paints has numerous initiatives to give them a recognition.

Once the products are finalised its time to hit the consumers mind, a lot of ATL BTL activities go inside it. But when it comes to selling 1000s of shades, something different is required. This is where book of colour comes to help.

But in todays changing times will a brand like AP stick to only printed books? No, Thats where the technology comes into play with "AP Colour Scheme Pro"

This isn't about selling paints, its about giving someone a better life.

Its not all about ATL, theres a lot of BTL activities done by AP, some of the once which I particularly found interesting. And the last leg for AP marketing comes to having the most trendy brand ambassadors out there, Saif Ali Khan, Soha Ali Khan, Kareena Kapoor, Dinesh Kartik.

Manufacturing

Asian Pants has world class manufacturing facilities at Mumbai, Satara, Rohtak, Raigad, Ankleshwar, Cuddalore, Budh Nagar, Medak, Patancheru. These facilities have robust production systems managed with world class technologies.

CSR

Age Care	The company conducts various health camps for the aged. Asian Paints operates Mobile Medicare Units (MMUs) in association with the NGO Helpage India to provide medical aid to the doorsteps of the needy senior citizens.
Improving infrastructure and health care at local schools	Invests resources in providing infrastructure support to primary schools
Total Water Management	Asian Paints provides expertise to citizens free of charge  to implement rainwater harvesting and total water management solutions

Reference

News About Asian Paints:

Recent M&A at Asian Paints

DECEMBER 22, 2017 Asian Paints to boost production capacity. Asian Paints Ltd., which is setting up two plants in the South, is all set to increase production capacity by 11 lakh kilolitres in 18 months, according to a top executive. “The first plant in Mysuru, with 6 lakh kilolitres, will go on stream by end-2018,” said Amit Syngle, chief operating officer, Asian Paints. “The second plant at Visakhapatnam with 5 lakh kilolitres will begin production by the first half of 2018. Nov 2017 Forbes Global: Three major Indian companies including Hindustan Unilever, Asian Paints and Bharti Airtel have been ranked among Forbes’s list of ‘The World’s Most Innovative Companies’. Ranked at No 8, Asian Paints features on the list for the fifth time in a row. Synonymous with colour in households across India, Asian Paints was also a part of this year’s Forbes India Super 50 list, a compilation of companies based on their shareholder return, sales growth and return on equity (RoE) over a period of three years.

12 Dec 2017 Reno Chemicals: Asian Paints said on Tuesday it has acquired Reno Chemicals Pharmaceuticals and Cosmetics Pvt. Ltd for Rs 159.52 crore ($24.7 million) in cash. Asian Paints said it purchased Reno to use its land and building to meet its own growing infrastructure requirements. Reno’s land is located in Santacruz East area of Mumbai, near Asian Paints’ own office.

Dec 11 2017 Asian Paints Ltd on Monday said it has acquired the remaining 49% stake in kitchen solutions provider Sleek International Pvt. Ltd from the Ahuja family for Rs50 crore. In August 2013, Asian Paints had acquired 51% stake in Sleek International for around Rs120 crore. With the latest acquisition, Sleek International has become a 100% subsidiary of Asian Paints. Sleek International is engaged in the business of manufacturing, selling and distributing kitchens, kitchen components including wire baskets, cabinets, appliances and accessories.

16 February, 2017 Sri Lanka’s Causeway Paints Lanka (Pvt) Ltd to expand its overseas business. The all-cash deal is aimed at enhancing the company’s operations in the island nation, Asian Paints said in a stock-exchange filing. It didn’t disclose the deal value. The Indian company already operates in Sri Lanka through subsidiary Asian Paints (Lanka) Ltd. Asian Paints is buying Causeway through its Singapore-based indirect unit Berger International Pvt Ltd. Causeway Paints began operations in 1994. It makes decorative and refinish paints for automotive and industrial clients, besides other products. Important because Asian Paints is very small in Automotive Paints Business 15 May, 2014 Asian Paints to buy Ess Ess Bathroom’s front-end sales business

15 May, 2014 Asian Paints to buy Ess Ess Bathroom’s front-end sales businessEss is an established player in the bath and wash business segment in India. Founded in 1993, it manufactures bathroom fittings and accessories. It has more than 1,500 dealers in India and eight branch offices. The company’s factory is in Himachal Pradesh. It exports to the UK, the Far East and the Middle East. The front end sales business includes brands, network and sales infrastructure. This move by Asian Paints is in line with its strategy to be a one-stop solution provider in the home décor space. In August last year, Asian Paints had invested Rs 120 crore as part of a deal to buy a 51 per cent stake in Sleek International Pvt Ltd, one of the top modular kitchen solutions firms in India.

April 2014 Asian Paints (International) Ltd (APIL), a wholly owned subsidiary of Asian Paints, agreed to buy 51 per cent equity stake in Ethiopia-based Kadisco Chemical Industry Plc for an undisclosed amount. Buying a Company in Ethiopia Shows There Intention to Go in Africa

March 2013 Asian Paints had hiked its stake in Singapore-headquartered Berger International Ltd (BIL), an investment holding company which manufactures, distributes and sells paint and related products in Bahrain, The United Arab Emirates, Jamaica, Trinidad and Barbados, to around 96.7 per cent.

Last Quarter Results: The quarterly performance of Asian Paints beat expectations, particularly on the topliner front. Decorative volume growth rebounded but this was lower than what was reported by its peer Kansai Nerolac.  Asian Paints Q2 2018 consolidated sales (+15 percent YoY) was ahead of Street expectations Volume growth Though company posted a rebound volume growth (8 percent vs 2 percent in Q1 2018) for the domestic decorative paints business, it is way behind the volume growth posted by its peer Kansai Nerolac (20 percent volume growth in the decorative coatings). International operations The company reported that currency devaluation in Egypt and unavailability of forex in Ethiopia impacted international operations. Home improvement and adhesives businesses The home improvement business of Asian Paints (~ 1 percent of Q2 2018 sales), though a miniscule part of overall business could be an important diversifier in future. However, recent performance has not been encouraging particularly on the EBIT front (loss of Rs 7.8 crore in Q2 FY18 vs. loss of Rs 3.3 crore in Q2 FY17) mainly on account of GST transition. Similarly, its recent foray into adhesives business (effectively pilot level) is another strategic step that needs to be closely monitored. Capacity expansion The company has budgeted Rs 1200 crore for the FY18, of which Rs 1000 crore would be for the greenfield expansion at Mysuru and Vizag. New plants are expected to commission by FY19.