Mr. Anuj Jain - A Brief Introduction

One of the most experienced paint and coating stakeholders in India, Anuj Jain has taken over as managing director of Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited (KNPL)with effect from April 1, 2022. Jain joined KNPL in 1990 as a management trainee and has worked in various capacities in his tenure of more than 30 years. He has been on the board of KNPL in the capacity of executive director since April 1, 2018.

Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited – A Snapshot

Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited is among the three largest paint and coatings producers in India. The company completed 100 years of operations in 2020 in the country. With a net turnover of INR 46,900 million ($612 million) in the financial year 2020-21, the company has an installed capacity of 547 million liters of paint and coating products. With six state-of-the-art manufacturing plants and one under-construction facility, the company is the largest producer of paint and coatings producer for the automotive segment.

Coatings World: What differentiates Kansai Nerolac Paints Limited from other paint producers in the country?

Jain: KNPL has a unique position in the Indian paint industry with a strong presence in both industrial and decorative segments. It has a comprehensive product portfolio catering to needs of both decorative and industrial customers. In the Decorative segment, it has paints, construction chemicals, wood finishes and adhesive range. In Industrial, KNP has leadership in automotive segment and powder coating, and sizeable presence in general industrial and high-performance coatings as well. KNP is also present in niche segments like coil coating, rebar coatings, pipe coatings and auto refinish as well.

KNP was first to launch lead-free paints and low VOC paints in consumer segments. It has created several technology differentiators like acrylic CED, 3C1B, medium high solids paints.

KNP is a pioneer in ESG, with proactive reporting since 2003, and is working actively on several Initiatives like water neutrality, climate action program like TCFD and SBTi.

KNP has six state-of-art, backward integrated (resin and emulsion manufacturing) plants and 100+ depots, spread across country to service the customers across geographies.

KNP also has several technological tie ups with international companies for different applications – like Protech (Canada) for powder coating, Oshima (Japan) for eat resistant paints and many more.

Coatings World: Depressed demand in the Indian market and very high crude prices (on account of the Russia-Ukraine conflict), the last couple of years and current year have been one of the most challenging times for the global and Indian paint industry. This is not the best of times to be in a paint maker’s boots; how is your company planning to meet these challenges?

Jain: The Indian paint market witnessed good demand growth in the decorative paint sector in year gone by. However, the automotive business witnessed depressed demand due to supply constraints of semiconductors and inflationary pressure faced by automotive companies. The industry witnessed unprecedented inflation, force majeures and supply challenges.

To minimize the impact of inflation, the company took a series of price increases during the year. In Decorative, the price increase has been in line with inflation. However, in the Industrial segment, the price increase has not been able to fully compensate inflation. KNP intends to take further price increases along with a series of other cost optimization measures to meet the challenges.

Coatings World: India’s automotive sector has been under immense pressure for the last two years. Projections from the Society of Indian Automotive Manufacturers (SIAM) for the current year are not very encouraging. Incidentally, this is the biggest segment for KNPL. How big is this concern for your company?

Anuj Jain: KNP is on a strong footing in the automotive segment. It has continuously invested in the business to create a strong value proposition for its customers. During an extremely challenging year, KNP was able to maintain an uninterrupted supplies to the customers. There has been a demand slowdown because of semiconductor supply issues for the last two years. Growth projections for FY 22-23 by SIAM points out to an easing of supply issues due to chips this financial year. Additionally, KNP is working on increasing its presence in the non-automotive industrial coating segments as well.

Coatings World: How big is the Indian automotive and performance coatings sub-segments in value or volume terms. What is KNPL’s market share in these two sub-segments?

Jain: KNPL is an undisputed leader in the Automotive segment with supplies to leading auto majors across various vehicle categories.

The Performance Coating segment comprises of powder coating, general Industrial and high-performance coatings. KNP has a sizeable presence in the Performance Coatings segment and is part of the Top 3 players.

Coatings World: Despite the steady growth in the Indian paint industry, per capita consumption of paints and coatings is abysmally low in the country. Do you see the situation changing in the medium and long term?

Jain: India per capita paint consumption will surely improve with rise in income levels and urbanization. Also, consumer preference is shifting towards premium category paints, which will drive value consumption as well.

Presence of more players will increase penetration, providing greater choices to consumers and further spur innovation. All this coupled with favorable demographic and economic factors will further lift the paint demand in the country, thereby, the per capita consumption.

Coatings World: What according to you are some of the biggest challenges facing the Indian paints & coating industry?

Jain: Supply side challenges, high inflation, and price increases are some of the key challenges in front of the Indian paint and coatings producers.

Coatings World: Unorganized segment in the Indian paint industry has a substantial share of the total paints & coating market. How big is this a worry for organized sector players like your company?

Jain: The shift of paint demand to organized players was triggered with implementation of structural reforms in the country like the GST. The COVID-19 pandemic further accelerated this shift due to demand uncertainty, supply side challenges and unprecedented inflation. During this period, the organized players have also expanded their footprint.

The unorganized segment nevertheless is vital for the overall paint industry on account of their proximity to customers and markets which help trigger new innovations and concepts.

Coatings World: Green or environmentally friendly paint have almost become a norm in developed countries. What is your take on this sub-segment in the Indian paint industry? Approximately what proportion of your total sales do these products constitute in the domestic market?

Jain: KNP has created several technology differentiators, which will reduce environmental impact for the whole value chain including at customer site. It is working closely with suppliers to source raw materials with renewable sources. The organization is prepared to work actively using its R&D prowess on expanding the sustainable product portfolio in the coming years by introduction of more products with low VOC, heavy metal-free and environmentally friendly paints.