Asian Paints MD & CEO Amit Syngle has said that the growing competition in the sector is intensifying pricing pressure and putting further strain on profitability across segments. The paints major, which closed FY25, with a consolidated revenue of Rs 33,855 crore and a net profit of Rs 3,619 crore, down 4.5% and 29%, respectively, versus the previous year, would step up its efforts to protect market share, he said in the firm’s latest annual report (for FY25).
The “competitive flux,” marked by elevated distribution and promotional spends, is expected to continue in the near term, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity for market leaders to sustain performance, Syngle said. He added that the changing dynamics in the domestic paints market came amidst a backdrop of uneven demand trends in urban and rural areas. FY26, he said, is likely to see a demand revival on the back of improved government spending, rural growth and better sales offtake in the mid-to-luxury housing segment.
Syngle’s comments incidentally come at a time when rivals such as Birla Opus and JSW Paints are turning up the heat in the domestic paints market valued at Rs 65,000 crore. Asian Paints, Berger and Kansai Nerolac have an estimated share of 52%, 20% and 15%, respectively, in the domestic paints market, according to industry experts.
AkzoNobel India, which has the Dulux brand and is set to be acquired by JSW Paints, has a market share of 7-8%. While Birla Opus, which was launched in February 2024, had a market share of nearly 7% by the end of the quarter ended March 2025, according to analysts at Elara Securities, gaining share at the expense of Asian Paints. A combination of sustained investments into manufacturing, distribution and marketing as well as deep discounts to lure paint dealers and setting up new factories across the country have helped Birla Opus gain share in a year, Elara Securities said.
Describing FY25 as a “challenging year,” Syngle said that Asian Paints is responding to competition by expanding distribution and collaborating with retail partners. “We are now present in over 169,000 retail touch points, supported by a tiered retailing format strategy that allows us to offer differentiated product experiences across a wide range of markets,” he said. The company improved its supplier count to over 28,000 in FY25 from 21,000 in FY24 and launched 27 new products in FY25 versus 28 in FY24.
The company has also stepped up investment in innovation, introducing more than 200 new products with differentiated performance properties in the last five years, Syngle said.
“We have filed for over 150 patents and have been granted 85 patents so far, with a commercialisation rate of more than 35%,” he added.
Post multiple expansion projects, Asian Paints’ in-house decorative paints manufacturing capacity in India has expanded to 2.29 million kilo-litre (KL) per annum in March 2025 from 1.85 million KL per annum in March 2024, its FY25 annual report said.
RIL pares stake in Asian Paints in Rs 1,876-crore block deal
Reliance Industries (RIL) has offloaded a further stake of 0.89% in Asian Paints on Monday within days of selling a 3.65% shareholding in the company for Rs 7,703 crore. 8.5 million shares changed hands on Monday for Rs 1,876 crore between the seller Siddhant Commercials and buyer ICICI Mutual Fund, according to bulk deals data on the NSE. Following two rounds of block deals, RIL has a minuscule 0.36% stake in Asian Paints.