Customer-centricity has always been this company’s strength. Berger Paints is a world-class paint manufacturer with a significant role in the future of the Indian paint market. The company’s protective coating division has dominated and established its leadership in the heavy-duty protective coating segment for decades. Sanjay Chowdhury, Vice President & Business Head, Protecton, Berger Paints India, shares more with CW.

How do you view the current opportunities for the Indian paint industry?
Infrastructure is booming with many government initiatives on the upswing, which is helping the paint industry grow in line with the cement and steel sectors. The market size and share remain the same between decorative architectural coatings and industrial protective coatings. This share is likely to get tilted towards protective coatings.Though the proportions are not going to reverse, there will be a sizable growth in the protective coating segment this decade.

How have innovation and ensuring a customer-centric approach helped you position the company among the fastest growing?
It is important to mention the ever-aggressive R&D team.They have always geared up to our expectations in finding alternatives to certain raw materials – for the past year this was the biggest challenge with frequent and steep increases that that affected the gross margins. We were able to keep pace with customer specifications and ensure project costs did not go out of proportion, which ensured continuing business even in difficult times.

Please introduce us to the company’s most recent innovative offerings for building and architectural needs.
Some select products from our architectural segment include the launch of an innovative exterior paint designed using PU andsilicon technology with elastomeric property; the paint has superior mechanical properties such as high elasticity and has superior water repellence.

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