Kansai Nerolac Paints posted a 4.3 per cent, Year-on-Year, profit decline in the first quarter of the financial year 2025-26. The paintmaker declared a profit of Rs 220.9 crore in Q1FY26 against a profit of Rs 230.83 crore in Q1FY25.
Kansai Nerolac’s revenue remained relatively stagnant as it registered a revenue of Rs 2162 crore in Q1FY26. In the same quarter of the previous financial year, the company’s revenue stood at Rs 2133 crore. The company’s revenue growth, thus, remained tepid at just 1.36 per cent in the current quarter.
Furthermore, Kansai Nerolac Paints reported a 6.7 per cent YoY EBITDA decline in the quarter. The company posted EBITDA of Rs 311.9 crore in the Q1FY26.
What is causing de-growth?
Kansai Nerolac Paints’ revenue de-growth comes in the middle of the shakeup in the paint industry in India. As the diversified conglomerates like Aditya Birla Group and JSW Group push for a larger market share with their paint brands Birla Opus and JSW Paints, margins of companies like Kansai Nerolac, with a smaller market share, are expected to see a cut.
Kansai Nerolac Paint currently has a market share of about 13 per cent in the decorative paints segment. In FY25, the company’s production capacity stood at 664.3 million litres, growing 8.8 per cent in the year.
While the competition in the paints industry intensifies, leading to a decline in margins and profitability for the legacy companies, Kansai Nerolac Paints’ Managing Director says that the early monsoon and geopolitical situations hampered the performance in the quarter.
Pravin Chaudhari, Managing Director, Kansai Nerolac Paints, says, “During the quarter, demand for Decorative showed signs of revival, though an early monsoon impacted during the later part of the quarter. KNP decorative performance was affected due to the disturbance in April, which impacted key markets in the North.”