Rs 100cr Berger plants in Tezpur and Nalbari

Guwahati, July 12: Calcutta-based Berger Paints plans to meet the growing demand for its products in the Northeast by commissioning two manufacturing plants in Assam early next year.

The paint company, which has led the region's market and grown consistently for more than a decade now, has invested nearly Rs 100 crore in the plants coming up at Naltali Industrial Estate in Tezpur and Nalbari.

The production capacity of the two factories will be about 48,000 metric tonnes per annum.

"A significant portion of our business in the east comes from Assam and the other northeastern states. We are currently servicing this market from our factories based out of Rishra in Bengal and New Delhi. But as we expect the market to grow well in the next few years, it has become important for us to set up manufacturing bases in the region itself," Abhijit Roy, the managing director and chief executive officer of Berger Paints India Ltd, told The Telegraph .

The company has acquired land and commenced construction at the sites. "We expect the factories to start production by January 2017. The factories will produce the entire range of products, including water-based, solvent-based and dry products such as putty and distemper," Roy said.

Industry sources put the market size of the country's paint industry (both organised and unorganised sectors) at close to Rs 36,000 crore. The share of the paint industry of the Northeast would be close to 2.5 per cent of the total market size.

"The paint sector has been doing quite well in the Northeast. People tend to maintain their houses well here. Besides, increasing urbanisation across the region has helped the paint sector grow robustly," he said.

Berger has constantly had the highest growth rate among all paint companies in the market and remained a market leader in the region.

The investment in the plants also mean greater logistic sense as cost of transport will go down substantially.

The Nalbari plant will manufacture products of British Paints, which is a strategic business unit of Berger Paints.

"The plant will have a capacity of 18,000MT in the first phase as we plan to boost our supply of products to meet the growing demand for our brand in the Northeast," Ranjit Singh, the president of British Paints, told The Telegraph .

Acquired by Berger in 1983, British Paints has a complete range of decorative and general industrial coatings in its portfolio and currently operates in the retail, industrial and projects verticals.

"British Paints has been recording a double-digit volume growth in India for the past several years. The Northeast is a very prominent market for us, contributing about 7 per cent to the total turnover of British Paints," Singh said.

The construction boom in the region, coupled with growing disposable incomes and better lifestyles, has further contributed to Berger's growth in the Northeast.

"We deal with over 12,000 dealer partners pan India. The Northeast is currently serviced through branches in Guwahati and Agartala. We are also planning to open more branches in other states and expand our dealer network," he said.