The Hindu Business Line : Berger plans Rs 50-cr plant in Pune

Kolkata, July 31 Berger Paints India Ltd plans to invest nearly Rs 50 crore on the commissioning of an automotive paints plant in Pune by the end of the year, according to Mr Subir Bose, Managing Director.

“The plant is expected to commence operation in a year and will have production capacity of 800 kilolitres a month,” he told newspersons at the company’s AGM.

Currently, nearly 76 per cent of the company’s revenue comes from the decorative paints segment, with automotive paints and protective coatings accounting for the rest.

According to Mr Kuldip Singh Dhingra, Chairman, the focus will remain on the paints business.

Acquisitions

The company is currently looking at acquisitions both in India and abroad.

“Our areas of interest are markets like China, Russia, Brazil and eastern Europe, which have high GDP growth rates,” he said.

“We have failed to make any big acquisition so far as the prices asked by target companies were too high in our estimates.”

The company recently set up a decorative plant manufacturing unit in Russia with a production capacity of 3,000 tonnes a year.

’No new facilities’

Mr Dhingra ruled out the possibility of such greenfield projects in the near future.

“Greenfield projects take a long time to take off. We are more interested in acquisitions. Funding the acquisitions is not an issue as we have the option of raising both equity and debt.”

On pricing, Mr Bose said that the company has already hiked the prices of its products twice in the first quarter due to rise in crude oil prices.

“We do not expect a further price rise in this quarter.”