Who will own the Indian wall?

(This article first appeared in BW Businessworld.) 

For decades, India’s decorative paints market appeared almost predictable. Asian Paints was the undisputed leader, Berger Paints the principal challenger, while Kansai Nerolac and Dulux occupied established positions. Consumers knew the brands, dealers knew what moved off the shelves and painters had their preferred products.

It was a market where relationships and distribution mattered as much as advertising. That equation is changing rapidly.

With Birla Opus building scale aggressively, JSW strengthening its paints business through Dulux and Pidilite entering decorative paints, the Indian market is no longer simply a battle among established players. It is becoming one of the most interesting competitive contests in Indian consumer marketing.

The question is no longer whether new players can enter the market. They have entered. The real question is how much share they can take from the incumbents.

The Old Order Is Being Challenged

What makes this disruption different is the profile of the new entrants. These are not small brands trying to carve out a niche. They are backed by some of India’s largest business groups, with the financial muscle to invest in manufacturing, distribution, dealer networks, technology, marketing and consumer acquisition.

Birla Opus has moved aggressively to build scale and distribution. JSW has strengthened its position through the Dulux business. Pidilite, meanwhile, brings enormous distribution experience and longstanding relationships across the construction and home-improvement ecosystem.

The question is therefore no longer whether the barriers to entry can be crossed. The harder challenge is converting investment and availability into preference.

The Festive Season Raises The Stakes

The timing could not be more significant. The festive season is traditionally an important period for home renovation and repainting, making the months around Diwali a natural battleground for paint brands. Consumers who have postponed painting their homes begin making decisions, while dealers prepare for increased demand.

But consumers are not starting with a blank sheet. Most already have a brand they know, a painter they trust and a dealer they regularly visit.

For the challengers, awareness alone is therefore not enough. They have to persuade an entire ecosystem to change its habits.

The Battle Will Be Won At The Dealer And Painter Level

This is perhaps the biggest difference between paints and many other consumer categories. Advertising can create aspiration, but the dealer and painter frequently influence the final purchase. A consumer may have a colour or finish in mind, but the painter can influence which product is used and the dealer can influence what is eventually bought.

This is why distribution numbers alone do not tell the complete story.

Getting a dealer to stock a product is one achievement. Getting the dealer to recommend it is another. Getting a painter to try a product once is very different from making it the brand he prefers to use repeatedly.

The paint war is therefore not being fought only on television, digital platforms or outdoor media. It is being fought across thousands of dealer counters and in conversations between painters and homeowners.

Asian Paints Has A Different Battle To Fight

For Asian Paints, the strategy cannot simply be about responding to every challenger through discounts. Its biggest competitive advantage remains the trust, familiarity and distribution strength accumulated over decades.

Painting a home is an infrequent purchase. It involves money, labour, time and considerable inconvenience. Consumers can therefore be conservative when making a choice. Asian Paints consequently has an enormous emotional and distribution moat. Its challenge is to ensure that this advantage does not turn into complacency.

Innovation, premiumisation, service, colour expertise and continued relevance to younger homeowners will become increasingly important as competitors spend aggressively to gain attention and distribution. The market leader does not merely have to defend share. It has to keep giving consumers reasons not to switch.

Berger Is Now A Challenger Being Challenged

Berger finds itself in an interesting position. For years, it was the challenger taking on the market leader. Today, it has challengers coming at it from several directions. Its response will have to combine defending its core markets with greater aggression in regions and segments where new players are trying to establish themselves.

Distribution, dealer relationships and painter loyalty will be critical. Berger’s heritage is an asset, but heritage alone will not be enough. It will have to make its existing relationships work harder while ensuring that new entrants do not steadily build their own ecosystems around its customers.

Birla Opus Has Chosen Speed

Birla Opus has perhaps taken the most aggressive route. Rather than spend years gradually building presence, it has attempted to create scale quickly through manufacturing capacity, distribution and a broad product portfolio.

This is logical in a category where distribution has historically been one of the biggest barriers to entry. But there is an important distinction between getting a dealer to stock a product and getting the dealer to recommend it. There is an even bigger difference between getting a painter to try a product and making it his preferred brand.

Birla Opus now has to convert availability into trial, trial into preference and preference into loyalty.

JSW Dulux Has A Different Advantage

JSW’s position is different because Dulux gives it an established premium brand rather than forcing it to create everything from scratch. That gives JSW an opportunity to build across different consumer segments.

Dulux brings considerable brand equity and premium positioning, while JSW brings capital, ambition and an existing paints business.

The strategic challenge will be to make the portfolio work coherently without confusing consumers or creating unnecessary internal competition. If managed well, the combination gives JSW a powerful platform from which to challenge the established order.

Pidilite Could Take A Different Route

Pidilite’s entry adds another dimension to the market. The company already understands the Indian retail, contractor and home-improvement ecosystem through decades of building brands across adhesives, waterproofing, repair and related categories.

Its opportunity, therefore, may not lie in simply imitating the traditional paint-company model. Pidilite can potentially use its understanding of construction and home improvement to create a broader proposition around the home.

That could eventually make its paint strategy less about selling another tin of paint and more about participating in a larger home-improvement journey.

Will It Become A Price War?

The obvious danger is that this contest becomes a price war. New entrants need market share. Incumbents need to protect volumes. Dealers naturally respond to margins and incentives.
But paint is not a category in which price alone determines the winner.

The consumer is paying not only for the paint but also for labour, surface preparation and the inconvenience of repainting. Quality, finish, durability, colour range, warranties and service therefore form an important part of the value equation.

The smarter brands will compete on value rather than simply on being the cheapest. The real question is: what additional reason can a brand give a consumer to switch?

The Painter Could Become The Most Powerful Influencer
The importance of the painter is likely to increase further. Painters understand which products are easy to apply, which give a better finish and which are likely to create problems later.

Their recommendation carries enormous weight, particularly outside the premium urban consumer segment. Painter education, loyalty programmes, incentives and direct engagement therefore become strategic weapons.

In many cases, the battle for the consumer may actually be won before the consumer reaches the paint shop. The brand that wins the painter’s confidence has already moved one step closer to winning the home.

The Real Battle Is For Brand Switching

This is where the new entrants face their biggest challenge. Creating awareness is relatively easy when you have a large advertising budget. Changing behaviour is much harder.

Why should a homeowner who has used Asian Paints for 20 years suddenly experiment with another brand? Why should a painter accustomed to Berger change his recommendation? Why should a dealer give valuable shelf space and recommendation to a newer entrant?

These are not communication questions alone. They are questions of trust, economics, performance and habit. The challengers therefore need to give every participant in the ecosystem a compelling reason to switch.

Who Will Own The Indian Wall?

The Indian paint market is entering an entirely different phase.

Asian Paints has to defend an enormous brand and distribution moat. Berger has to protect its position while continuing to behave like a challenger. Kansai Nerolac has to strengthen its relevance in decorative paints. Birla Opus has to convert scale and investment into sustained consumer preference. JSW has to make Dulux and its wider paints portfolio work coherently. Pidilite has to discover whether its home-improvement ecosystem can give it a differentiated path into paints.

The festive season will offer an important indication of how these strategies are translating into consumer behaviour. But this is not merely a battle for festive sales.

It is a battle for distribution, dealer economics, painter influence, consumer trust and, eventually, brand preference. For years, the Indian paint industry was largely about protecting market share.

Now, every major player has to fight to earn it. And the biggest prize is not the paint can. It is the wall inside the Indian home.