Birla Opus rewriting rules of the game in paints: KM Birla

Birla Opus, launched in Feb 2024, has emerged as India’s third-largest paints player within six months. With six plants and a 24% capacity share, Grasim targets Rs 10,000 cr revenue by year three, as KM Birla highlights rapid expansion, tech adoption, and strong market momentum.

UltraTech Cement, Aditya Birla Capital, Industry, Birla Opus, Aditya Birla Group

Birla Opus plans to have a total production capacity of 1,332 million litre per annum with six plants.

Birla Opus is reshaping the decorative paints market in the country, showing precision and speed in execution, Grasim Industries chairman Kumar Mangalam Birla said on Tuesday.

Speaking at the company’s 78th annual general meeting (AGM) held virtually, Birla, who is also the chairman of the Aditya Birla Group, said that Birla Opus had emerged as the third-largest paints player within six months of launch and would command approximately 24% of the installed capacity in paints once its sixth plant, to be launched in Kharagpur, West Bengal, next month, was fully operational. The paints company was launched in February 2024.

Strong Growth and Expansion Strategy

Addressing shareholders, Birla also said Grasim had achieved a consolidated revenue of nearly Rs 1.5 lakh crore in FY25, led by growth initiatives such as paints and building materials. Grasim counts UltraTech Cement and Aditya Birla Capital as its subsidiaries. Grasim has also invested Rs 17,000 crore in total consolidated capital expenditure for FY25, with nearly 76% directed towards growth initiatives. This trend, Birla said, reflected in capex over the last five years, with nearly Rs 51,000 crore of Rs 67,000 crore spent between FY20 and FY25 directed towards growth initiatives, he added.

The paints business, Birla said, was also on track to achieve its near-term revenue target of Rs 10,000 crore by the third year of full-scale operations, and was integrating technology with Industry 4.0 principles. Birla Pivot, a B2B e-commerce platform, with a revenue run rate of Rs 5,500 crore, on the other hand, was putting artificial intelligence (AI) at the heart of its operations. The business was on track to cross Rs 8,500 crore in annualised revenue by FY27, he said.

“The company has commissioned five manufacturing facilities in paints, with a sixth set to go live in the next month. Birla Opus is rewriting the rules of the game,” Birla said, adding that the business had over 175 products with over 1,460 stock-keeping units. Its distribution footprint extended to over 8,000 towns with 141 depots, with retail stores, including paint studios and paint galleries.

Ambition to Be Second-Largest Player

“When combined with our putty business, as is standard in industry benchmarks, our market share has already crossed the double-digit threshold. This strong early momentum reinforces our ambition to become the second-largest paints player at the earliest,” he said.