Berger Paints to defend market share, even if profits take a hit: CEO Abhijit Roy

If competitive pressures intensify, it will prioritize market share over profitability, said Abhijit Roy, Managing Director (MD) and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) in an interview with Berger Paints India Ltd. Mint.

“Ideally, we would love to increase both profits and sales,” Roy said. “But if pressures start to build, we would prefer to maintain our market share, even if there is some reduction in profits. Once your market share is maintained, profits can always come back sooner or later,” he said, adding that this was not something the paint manufacturer was worried about.

Roy, who has been running Berger for 13 years, admitted that the industry has never seen a disruptor like Birla Opus shaking up once-stable businesses.

“They (Birla Opus) have woken up everyone, shaken everyone up and everyone is running faster. This is a good thing that has happened to the industry,” he said.

holding your ground

Berger, which celebrated its 100th anniversary last year, appears to have grass on its hands. According to Roy, the company’s market share increased by 0.5% to 20.8% in the first half of fiscal 2026 (FY26) in an industry worth approximately $10 billion.

However, revenues fell by 11.9% sequentially ₹2,827.49 crore in the September quarter, while net profit fell 34.4% ₹206.38 crore.

Asian Paints continues to dominate with around 52% market share, followed by Berger, Kansai Nerolac (15%) and Akzo Nobel (8-9%). The remaining 4-5% is shared by smaller players such as Indigo, Nippon and Shalimar Paints.

New rivals, new pressure

Competition has intensified.

Aditya Birla Group’s entry via Birla Opus in January 2024 ₹The Rs 10,000-crore investment plan for six new plants has raised price war concerns. Opus, a subsidiary of the listed company Grasim Industries, aims to enter the top tier of India’s paint industry.

“We are trying to become the No. 2 profitable player in the coming years,” said Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of Aditya Birla Group, during the launch.

Sensing disruption, Berger doubled down on his market approach: Last year, he announced he would double his revenue within five years.

“It’s taken us almost 100 years to get to this point.” ₹10,000 crore. We’ll do another one in the next six years ₹10,000 crore,” Roy told shareholders at Berger’s annual general meeting last year.

Not far behind, JSW Paints, part of Sajjan Jindal’s JSW Group, has been aggressive this July. ₹Akzo Nobel India’s ₹ 9,000 crore acquisition signals intent to expand rapidly.

No race. 2

“Everyone wants to be number two because number one is out of reach. The real battle is who will be number three. Number two looks very far away unless there is consolidation, which doesn’t seem likely,” Roy said.

Yet he remains confident. “We currently have around 20% market share and our dream is to reach 30%. We have dealers, brands, factories and employees; we know this business well.”

Rivals including privately held Opus and JSW Paints have not been asked tough questions about their profits, Roy said, but Berger also wants to make a steady profit.

“We have the opportunity because we are in a better position than Birla, who comes from base zero.”

Berger Paints’ net profit fell by 23.5 percent ₹269.9 billion at the end of September last year ₹206.4 crore this September. Asian Paints’ profits fell by 6 percent ₹186.79 at the end of June last year ₹1,117.05 crore this June, while Kansai Nerolac reported an increase of 11.3%. ₹133.31 crore, largely helped by a lower tax rate of 26.6% compared to 34.5% in the same period last year. Asian Paints will report its September quarter earnings on Wednesday.

Distribution push

To maintain and grow its share, Berger is doubling its distribution, especially in the West and South where its presence is relatively weak. The company is struggling with material availability issues and is strengthening its dominance in its traditional stronghold of the East by adding new dealers in these regions.

The East remains Berger’s stronghold and is relatively safe from competition. “Birla Opus is stronger in the West and South, which already has a cement network,” he said. “So the pressure is higher there, not in the East.”

Berger’s approach is to strengthen his dominance in the East while expanding and intensifying efforts in the West and South to address regional competition.

Analyst opinion

Berger’s aggressive investments in urban distribution could deliver market share gains in the second half of FY26 and FY27, according to ICICI Securities’ report dated November 5.

Analysts also expect competitive intensity to peak, allowing certain price increases once pressures ease.

“We remain excited about Berger’s aggressive urban push,” wrote analysts at ICICI Securities.

Roy admitted that the extended monsoon has adversely affected the festival painting season, delaying demand.

The festive season for decorative paints is September and October, accounting for 21% of total sales.

“Demand is going to increase because there’s a lot of pent-up demand out there, the rains have delayed that, so we expect sales to come through this quarter and next quarter, you know, a lot of that demand, you know, paint, normally it’s not destroyed, it’s delayed,” the chief executive said.

Berger Paints shares have gained 7.61% since the start of the financial year, lagging the Nifty index’s 10% rise in the same period; This reflects positive but underwhelming performance compared to the broader market.

Despite margin pressure and intensifying competition, Berger relies on scale, brand recall and distribution power to keep its colors bright.