20 Asian Paints Limited
Mumbai, India
www.asianpaints.com

PUBLIC COMPANY
YEAR ESTABLISHED: 1942
COATINGS REVENUES: $1.059 billion
TOTAL REVENUES: $1.059 billion
SEGMENT BREAKDOWN
Architectural/Decorative: 90%
Industrial & Automotive: 10%

KEY PEOPLE
Ashwin Choksi, chairman; Ashwin Dani, vice chairman and managing director; PM Murty, CEO; KBS Anand, president, architectural, India; Vivek Subramanian, vice president, industrial, India; Jalaj Dani, president, international operations.

Asian Paints is India’s largest paint company and ranked among the top ten decorative coatings companies in the world with sales of $1.059 billion in 2009. Sales came largely from the company’s architectural and decorative operations (90%) while its automotive and industrial coatings sales (10%) made up the remaining.

Asian Paints along with its subsidiaries have operations in 17 countries across the world with 23 paint manufacturing facilities, servicing consumers in 65 countries through Berger International, SCIB Paints – Egypt, Asian Paints, Apco Coatings and Taubmans.

One of the key marketing initiatives for Asian Paints last year was the launch of its Colour Next 2010 palette of colors. It comprises various combinations of shades that lend a unique identity to spaces. This series of colors is the result of an extensive trend forecasting exercise spanning several months and covering various cities across Indis. Color Next 2010 was launched in Mumbai in December 2009. The palette is categorized into five color philosophies or design themes—Urbanite, Aura, Smart Comfort, Gallerie and Nature Networks. During the year, Asian Paints also launched Premium Semi Gloss Enamel (PSGE). According to the company, it is India’s first water-based enamel. It has zero solvent odor, low levels of VOCs and dries quickly. Other than having all other functional properties of enamels, it is also EN71 certified, which makes it a product with low metallic content.

Also on the new product front, to cater to higher sheen requirements of consumers in interiors, Asian Paints launched Royale Shyne. The other activity in the top end interior paints categotry was the launch of Royale and Royale Shyne with Teflon surface protector