Want to paint your home? Do it yourself. Indian paint companies would train you take up the brush. The industry is ready to help you colour up your cottage or flat or house.

Apart from advising on colour schemes, some of the companies have started training workshops for consumers. Abhijit Roy, MD and CEO of Berger Paints India told Business Line that his company was conducting such sessions for the willing customers.

“What is important was to break the psychological barrier, particularly among young home owners, to paint their own life, literally,” he added. According to Jayakumar Krishnaswamy, MD of Akzo Nobel India, colour was associated with happiness. “We need to encourage that feeling to raise consumption of paints.”

The paint industry is trying to bring in the elements of colour and happiness in promoting demand for decorative paints. According to KBS Anand, MD and CEO of Asian Paints, the focus shifted to the homemaker and the kids -- the real consumers.

A leading paints dealer said he was amazed at the enthusiasm of a woman at a hands-on learning session. “She, not a trade-mill regular, changed from sari to a pair of jeans to climb up the indoor ladder with a brush and colour pot without inhibition”.

Changing profile

If the customer profile was changing so was the profile of industry. Hazardous chemicals such as lead, mercury and arsenic are strict no-no because of presence of multinationals and changing consumer preferences.

Krishnaswamy said in the next 10 years application of new manufacturing processes and automation will bring about quality revolution in the paints industry in the country.

Pravin Chaudhari, ED of Kansai Nerolac Paints said if in the coming 3 years around Rs 4,000 crore get invested for sector, one fourth of it would be in industrial paints and coating.

“A significant portion would be in process control and automation, particularly in metal handling sector,” said Chaudhari.

The industry is awaiting manufacturing and infrastructure growth in the country to witness improvement in demand from this segment.

Besides expansion of market, green product manufacturing and skill development sorting out tax issues was among the industry priorities going forward, said the new President of Indian Paint Association, Jalaj Dani.​

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