Margins under pressure due to rising crude prices: Kansai Nerolac
In an interview with ET Now, HM Bharuka, MD, Kansai Nerolac, gives his views on the company's performance and future plans. Excerpts:

ET Now: Your sales numbers have increased by 24%. If you could give us the split in terms of how much volume contribution and how much of a growth contribution was on account of price rises that you undertook?
HM Bharuka: The volume growth is to the tune of about 16% odd and value growth as you have seen is about 24%. So, balance is due to the increase in price as well as change of product mix.


ET Now: What about your market share and how that has moved for you for the quarter gone by?
HM Bharuka: Actually market share for the paint industry has not moved much. If you look at, all the companies in the industry have done very well, maybe marginal increase in market share for us both in decorative and industrial but not to talk about it. I would say market share has remained more or less same.
ET Now: Where do you see your operating profit margins moving at a time when commodity prices are moving up, crude prices have been rather volatile for the quarter gone by?
HM Bharuka: That's a concern area. It is not only quarter 1. If you look at last six quarters, crude prices have been moving. And it is not only crude, derivatives of crude as well as AIO2, which is one of the important ingredient for the paint industry that has been going up. So that's a challenge but we have been able to pass on in case of decorative almost entire cost increase to the market. In case of industrial, partly we have been able to pass on and balance, we are negotiating, so if you look at our margin compared to year on year, it has dropped by 1% point but if you look at quarter on quarter, it has improved substantially. So if you are able to maintain this margin, it is going to be a good year and prices have peaked as of now.
ET Now: So what is your sense, do you have enough room or elasticity to pass on the price hits that you are taking on the back of higher RMCs to your consumers?
HM Bharuka: That's one of the concern area not because of the price elasticity of the paint, it is more to do with the demand. If you look at interest rate, which is hurting the auto industry, infrastructure story as well as the housing sector. So because of that, I would say demand can slow down but we still expect the growth, if you look at decorative, we are expecting about 10-15% growth in decorative. In case of auto, we expect maybe this year could be just a flat or marginal growth.<more>

AkzoNobel launches global car refinish brand Dynacoat in India
Look no further to make your car stand out. AkzoNobel, the largest paints and coatings company in the world, has launched their international car refinish paint Dynacoat across various distribution points in India. Currently the product is available in the East & Southern part of the country. Dynacoat offers an affordable, complete car refinishing product range that provides a complete experience to the customer.
With Dynacoat, AkzoNobel promises to revolutionize the mid-tier car refinish market in India. Dynacoat offers affordable quality, colour accuracy and pro-active support to dealers and their customers for a holistic and satisfactory servicing experience. It has excellent colour availability and color match to meet specific colour needs of almost all cars. Easy to apply and equipped with a unique tinting proposition, Dynacoat gives cars an excellent finish and outstanding gloss. Dynacoat works on the concept of the ‘Mixing Machine’ which allows mixing of nearly any local and international car colour with extreme precision but with a minimum number of tinting colours. Furthermore, the Mixing machine concept includes professional colour documentation to keep you up-to-date about the latest car colours. So in short, Dynacoat helps you achieve the best colour match for an invisible repair!
Talking about this, Divyendu Pundhir, Managing Director, AkzoNobel Automotive & Aerospace Coatings, India & South Asia, said “Dynacoat is one of the leading brands in AkzoNobel’s Automotive and Aerospace business worldwide and has witnessed great success in recent years. With the launch of Dynacoat in India, the idea is to offer a complete assortment in the market to strengthen our position in India’s booming Automotive and retail car-repair market. Currently, we have three different brands in the trade Polyurethane (PU) product range, and going forward it is our ambition to consolidate these as sub-brands under the Dynacoat umbrella. What we offer with Dynacoat is ease of use, high quality and the best colour offering in the car-refinish market in terms of both choice and reliability. We would also like to provide distributors with the technical support and training that is an important part of the Dynacoat brand promise." <more>

AkzoNobel launches new global brand identity of Dulux in India
Paint and coating company AkzoNobel today announced the launch of its new single global brand identity in India for its consumer paint range, including Dulux, Flexa and Levis.
“India is amongst the first few countries within the AkzoNobel global network to activate this transition to the new Dulux brand,” the Akzo Nobel India Managing Director, Mr Amit Jain, said in a statement.
The company said the new identity is being gradually rolled-out worldwide and is part of its effort to reinforce its market position and grow its share in consumer paint.
The new identity of Dulux and its related brands, including Flexa, Levis, Alba and Coral, feature a human figure and a colour flourish which will appear on all <more>

 Amit Jain, MD, Akzo Nobel India
'India is one of the world's most underpainted countries'
Akzo Nobel India, the Indian arm of Amsterdam-based international paint and coatings manufacturer Akzo Nobel (they also make speciality chemicals), has planned to become a dominant player in the premium segment and occupy a large stake in the mid-tier one. In an interview with Swati Garg, the managing director of Akzo Nobel India, Amit Jain, outlined the company’s plans for growth. Edited excerpts:
What is the size and growth outlook of the paint industry?
Putting the decorative, automotive and coatings segments together, roughly Rs 15,000 crore. It will double over the next six years. The decorative paint segment, more specifically, will double from the current Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 20,000 within six years.

You have earlier you’d quadruple business from the current Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 5,000 crore by 2015. Is this too ambitious, with the slowdown in real estate and auto segments?
The Rs 5,000-crore target will be an amalgamation of the four companies where we’re currently present in India. That said, 88 per cent of Akzo Nobel India’s business comes from the decorative segment, but of this, only 25 per cent comes from new projects and buildings. The rest is all repainting jobs. This would directly translate to a scenario where we will not be affected even if there is a slowing in the real estate market. Also, in the auto segment, we do not operate in the OEM (original equipment manufacture) segment, which means our market is not car producing factories but, again, repainting jobs. Here too, therefore, a slowdown will have minimal impact.<more>

Berger Paints to set up Rs 200 cr plant in Tamil Nadu
Berger Paints India said it is setting up a new production plant in Tamil Nadu with an investment of Rs 200 crore which is likely to be operational by next fiscal.
The company that manufactures and markets a range of decorative and industrial paint products under various product brands also said it is also looking to diversify into industrial chemicals segment in the long term.
"We are setting up a new plant in Tamil Nadu, which is likely to be completed by December this year, and would start production by early next fiscal," Berger Paints India Chief Business Development Manager Sanjay Chowdhury told reporters here on the sidelines of an IIFT event.<more>

Berger Paints to invest Rs 130 cr for expansion in FY12
PTI | 11:08 AM,Aug 07,2011
Mumbai, Aug 7 (PTI) Berger Paints plans to invest Rs 120-130 crore in FY12 to fuel its expansion plans which include capacity-building and launching new products, a senior company official has said."We have embarked on an aggressive plan to expand our capacity and also spread our business in other parts of the country. We plan to invest Rs 120-130 crore this fiscal for this. We will continue to make such investments over the next two-three years," company director and chief financial officer Srijit Dasgupta said during a conference call here over the weekend.Dasgupta further said the company, which enjoys 19 percent of the over Rs 21,000-crore of the paints market, will be launching three-four products in the premium segment. He, however, refused to divulge about the categories or the time frame.Within the organised market, Berger is the third largest player with 19 percent market share after Asian Paints (30 percent) and Kansai Nerolac (20 percent), while ICI 12 percent.The company had posted a 16.41 percent spike in its net profit to Rs 37.16 crore for the June quarter compared to Rs 31.92 crore in same quarter last year.During the quarter, its net sales jumped by 30.28 percent to Rs 693.12 crore as against Rs 532 crore in the corresponding quarter last fiscal."Though margins continue to be under pressure due to a lull in our industrial applications business, the rise in prices in the decorative business has aided topline growth. We had increased prices thrice since May," Dasgupta said. <more>

Berger Paints -
Berger Paints India Ltd has informed BSE regarding a Press Release dated August 02, 2011, titled "Berger Paints India Ltd records a growth of 30% in Revenues and 16% in Profit After Tax for quarter ended June 30, 2011".<more>

Nordson ASYMTEK Hosts Dispensing & Coating Technical Seminars in Ottawa, September 14 and 15
Nordson ASYMTEK, a leader in dispensing, coating and jetting technologies, will host a free technical seminar on conformal coating, dispensing and jetting applications and innovations and the fluids, equipment, and manufacturing techniques to implement them. The seminar will be held at the Ottawa Convention Centre. The conformal coating seminar will be on Wednesday September 14, and the dispensing and jetting seminar will be Thursday, September 15, 2011.<more>

Research and Markets: $43.52 billion Paints and Coatings Market in the Asia Pacific to Grow at a Steady CAGR of 11% to Reach $53.55 billion in 2011
Published: Monday, 8 Aug 2011 | 2:00 PM ETText Size
DUBLIN, Aug 08, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/31f3fb/strategic_analysis) has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan's new report "Strategic Analysis of the Paint and Coatings Market" to their offering.
$43.52 billion Paints and Coatings Market in the Asia Pacific to Grow at a Steady CAGR of 11% to Reach $53.55 billion in 2011 Value Additions to Paints and Coatings Find Many Takers in the Asia Pacific The paints and coatings market in the Asia Pacific has struck a purple patch due to the impressive growth in the end-user segments of construction, commercial, public buildings and residential real estate. The buoyant economic conditions in most Asia Pacific countries, especially in China and India, have had a bearing on the fortunes of these sectors and thereby on the paints and coatings market.<more>

Monomer short supply hits paint sector: Indian Paint Association
KOLKATA: Monomer short supply in India has hit the paint sector in the country. This was indicated by the outgoing president of Indian Paint Association (IPA) Mr D.P. Basu at the 48th annual general meeting of the association on Thursday. Monomers, an important raw material for manufacturing emulsions are being used for generating clean energy in the US and Europe thereby leading to shortage of supplies to meet the growing demand from Asia and China.
In the decorative segment, the prices of emulsions and titanium dioxide have increased significantly due to higher demand from Asia coupled with supply constraints due to closure of some of the manufacturing facilities in Europe.<more>

Shahid Kapoor to be the brand ambassador of ICI Dulux Paints?
The teenage heart throb Shahid Kapoor, ever since his debut with Ishq Vishk, has had his fan following growing from strength to strength. His dream debut was followed by some stellar performances in films like Jab We Met, Vivah, Kismat Konnection and Kaminey.

According to Bollywood Hungama's reliable sources, Shahid Kapoor has now been signed up as the brand ambassador of ICI Dulux paints. With SRK doing Nerolac, Saif in Asian Paints and now Shahid is the new celeb to a paint brand.

The official announcement of the same is being awaited.<more>

Asian Paints brings back Nahin Bhaiya campaign
Remember the catch-phrase, ‘Nahi Bhaiya, Aisa Nahi Hai’, from the Asian paints commercial released last season. Leveraging the same property further, this time the brand has incorporated a role-reversal into its new TVC, wherein the elder brother, resorts to the Asian Paints guide to colour up his home. Thus the brief to the O&M team was to mark the launch of the company’s new offering, named as the Happy Painting guide.
Elaborating on the same, Pradyumna Chauhan, Creative Director, O&M explains, “The key interest that worked for us was the idea, that in India as a country, the elder brother is a fatherly figure and if the smaller ones try to do anything on their own, than its kind of intimidating for them. We had a pretty successful run last time, and this time too, we expect the same response.”<more>


ASTM Committee Developing Standard on Testing of Coil-Coated Building Products; Participants Invited
ASTM International announced plans for the first standard to address test-panel preparation and rating specifically developed for corrosion testing of coil-coated building products.

ASTM WK30920, Guide for Corrosion Test Panel Preparation and Rating of Coil-Coated Building Products, is being developed by Subcommittee D01.53 on Coil Coated Metal, part of ASTM International Committee D01 on Paint and Related Coatings, Materials and Applications <more>

'Smart skin' graphene coating can help harvest energy from flowing water
Researchers including one of Indian-origin have developed a new method to harvest energy from flowing water using a nanoengineered graphene coating.
The new technology only produces small amounts of electricity so it isn’t aimed at large scale electricity production, but rather at self-powered microsensors to be used in oil exploration.
“It’s impossible to power these microsensors with conventional batteries, as the sensors are just too small. So we created a graphene coating that allows us to capture energy from the movement of water over the sensors,” said study’s lead author Nikhil Koratkar, a professor in the Rensselaer School of Engineering. The team’s discovery is a potential solution for a key challenge to realizing these autonomous microsensors, which will need to be self-powered. By covering the microsensors with a graphene coating, the sensors can harvest energy as water flows over the coating.
“We’ll wrap the graphene coating around the sensor, and it will act as a ‘smart skin’ that serves as a nanofluidic power generator,” Koratkar said.
For the study, Koratkar’s team also tested the energy harvested from water flowing over a film of carbon nanotubes. However, the energy generation and performance was far inferior to those attained using graphene, he said.
Looking at potential future applications of this new technology, Koratkar said he could envision self-powered microrobots or microsubmarines. Another possibility is harvesting power from a graphene coating on the underside of a boat.
The study has been published in the journal Nano Letters. <more>

FL Tank Painter Collapses, Dies
A Cocoa utilities worker died after becoming a critically ill today on top of a 30-foot water tank near the Wal-Mart in Viera.
According to a Brevard County Fire Rescue news release, members of the special operations team found that the 54-year-old unidentified maintenance worker had fallen ill while on top of the tank, which is near the Wal-Mart at Interstate 95 and Wickham Road.
"Several members of the special operations team quickly ascended the tower and began emergency treatment as Truck 48, one of BCFR’s three 75-foot aerial ladders, were positioned for a high-angle rescue," according to the press release.
The man was taken to Viera Hospital.
Co-workers said the man was painting the tank when he became ill, the release said.<more>

Police detain three for producing fake paint
BEIJING - Three men suspected of making and selling fake paint in the outskirts of this city have been detained and are likely to face stiff punishments in the future, an official with the district's public security bureau said on Thursday.
The three men are suspected of turning a room they were renting into a factory churning out the fraudulent products, which they are believed to have kept in two storehouses in Beijing's Fangshan district. For more than eight months, they supplied the fake paint to hardware stores, said Han Xiujie, spokeswoman for the public security bureau in the area.<more>

Novel Coatings Show Great Promise as Flame Retardants in Polyurethane Foam
Gram for gram, novel carbon nanofiber-filled coatings devised by researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Texas A&M University outperformed conventional flame retardants used in the polyurethane foam of upholstered furniture and mattresses by at least 160 percent and perhaps by as much as 1,130 percent. <more>

PPG Industries forms glass joint venture in India
PPG Industries Inc. said Friday that it has formed a joint venture with Harsha Exito Engineering Private Ltd. of India to make fiber glass.

PPG said the joint venture's products will be for infrastructure, transportation and wind energy. The venture will be based in the state of Tamil Nadu and serve mostly the Indian market.<more>