He said members of the Indian Paint Association should take the first step towards a collaboration led growth in the coming years, as the future of the industry hinges on a greater extent on the overall increase in the size of the domestic market. "We should move diagonally to enhance the market size rather than be worried about the individual market shares. A collaborative approach among the association members is needed for this. This would provide a win-win situation for all concerned," he said.

He said by doing so, companies would have to deal with new customers besides servicing the old ones. Customer servicing through innovations and brand building would play critical roles, he added. Launching new products and services and revamping the distribution channel would also play a crucial role in this game, he pointed out.

The enhancement of profitability from economy products, however, will remain the pertinent question. How to enhance profitability from economy products? Other issues including the increased investment in IT infrastructure, and pollution control measurers, which requires heavy capital investment, also needed to be reckon with, Mr Murty said.

The way out would be to improve capital efficiency by streamlining operations and introducing other cost cutting measurers besides fine tuning product and distribution efficiency, he said.

Mr Murty said there is an incredible opportunity waiting before the small firms to capture niche markets in India. Nimble and innovative firms can latch themselves on to such markets and thrive in the future, he added.