The final coat that adds the finishing touches to any project will explain why the market size for paints has been growing at 15 per cent per annum in recent years. According to one estimate, the industry is expected to grow at 1.5 - 2 times the growth in GDP of the country in the coming years.

The manufacturing of paint is highly raw material intensive and therefore the cost of production depends heavily on the supply situation in the market for raw materials. Companies use more than 300 ingredients to produce paints and around one third of them are petrobased derivatives. Since most of the raw materials are petroleum based, the industry benefits from a decline in crude oil prices. Prominent companies in the sector are Asian Paints, Kansai Nerolac Paints, Berger Paints (India), Akzo Nobel India, Shalimar Paints and Jenson & Nicholson (India).

While the organised sector comprises 70 per cent of production, the unorganised sector controls the rest. Reports suggest that there are about 2,000 units having small and medium sized paint manufacturing plants in the unorganised segment. Top organised players include Asian Paints, Kansai Nerolac, Berger Paints and ICI. The distemper segment is controlled by unorganised players.

The market for paints can be divided into two segments - decorative and industrial. Around 72 per cent of the market is cornered by decorative paints, which consists of exterior wall paints, interior wall paints, wood finishes and enamel and ancillary products such as primers, putties and the like. Asian Paints is the market leader in this segment. The demand for decorative paints arises from household painting, architectural and other display purposes.

The demand for decorative paints is not evenly distributed through the year, as a substantial demand is concentrated in the festive season (September-December). This segment is price sensitive and is a higher margin business, as compared to the industrial segment. In 2011-12, the decorative paints market is estimated to have grown by about 25 per cent in value terms and 12 per cent in volume terms.

Industrial paints cater mainly to automobile and consumer durable companies and product offerings in this segment include automotive coatings, powder coatings and protective coatings. Kansai Nerolac is the market leader in this segment. The industrial paints segment is far more technology intensive than the decorative segment.