Birla Opus Paints, the paint business of Aditya Birla Group, is steadily increasing its market share despite a slowdown in the decorative paint industry. Rakshit Hargave, CEO of Birla Opus Paints, stated that the company is on track to achieve a “high single-digit” market share by the end of FY25 and aims to become the second-largest player in the decorative paint market within the next 3-4 years.
“We will close this fiscal year with a high single-digit market share and plan to continue gaining share next year. By reaching Rs 10,000 crore in revenue over the next 3-4 years, we aim to secure the number 2 position,” Hargave told The New Indian Express.
Asian Paints, with a share of more than 50%, is the largest player in the domestic paints market, followed by Berger Paints and Kansai Nerolac.
Birla Opus on Thursday launched its first company-owned and operated Birla Opus Paint Studio in Gurugram, focusing on experiential retail. The company plans to open similar experience centres in major cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Kolkata in the coming months.
Entering the paint market in February 2024 with an initial investment of Rs 10,000 crore, Birla Opus has aggressively expanded its presence. The brand is now available in nearly 6,000 towns and expects to have 50,000 dealers by FY25-end.
The company’s growth comes amid a broader industry slowdown caused by reduced consumer spending. Hargave described the downturn as cyclical, expressing confidence in the long-term potential of the Indian market.
“As far as we are concerned, two things are happening. We have grown quarter on quarter because of the small base. So my number is better. However, there is a slowdown and general sluggishness in the market. We don’t have an answer as to when this will improve, but we are confident that this is only a very small temporary cycle,” stated Hargave.
Birla Opus is also scaling up its manufacturing capabilities. Its fifth plant in Mahad, Maharashtra, recently became operational, making it the second-largest player by installed capacity at 1,096 million liters per annum (MLPA). A sixth facility in Kharagpur, West Bengal, is expected to commence operations in Q1 FY26.
According to brokerage firm Anand Rathi, Birla Opus has gained over 350 basis points (bp) in market share, largely at the expense of Asian Paints. “Our interactions and analysis of 9M FY25 performances suggest that the new entrant, Birla Opus, gained 350bp+ market share, a large part of which was lost by Asian Paints; most others saw only small, 10-20bp, changes,” stated Anand Rathi.