Kumar Mangalam Birla-led Grasim Industries unveils strategic plan to challenge paint industry dynamics
Aditya Birla Group is venturing into the competitive paints industry with a bold vision to achieve ₹10,000 crore in revenue within three years through its new venture, Birla Opus. Led by Kumar Mangalam Birla, the conglomerate aims to disrupt the market and secure the second position in the industry.
To realise this goal, Grasim Industries, under the Birla Opus brand, has inaugurated three manufacturing facilities in Tamil Nadu, Haryana, and Punjab. These factories, along with upcoming ones in Karnataka, Maharashtra, and West Bengal, will collectively boast a capacity of 1,332 million litres per annum (mlpa), surpassing the combined capacity of current industry players ranked second, third, and fourth.
Initial production has commenced in units located in Panipat, Ludhiana, and Cheyyar, with plans to expand further. Grasim Industries intends to enhance its capacity by an additional 500 mlpa within existing facilities, leveraging investments totalling ₹5,000 crore.
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Birla Opus paints will hit markets in Punjab, Haryana, and Tamil Nadu by mid-March and target distribution across areas with populations exceeding one lakh by July. The company aims to reach over 6,000 towns by the end of the next fiscal year, supported by a network of 50,000 dealers and complimentary tinting machines for 95% of them.
Even before its official launch, Birla Opus has enrolled three lakh painters and contractors nationwide within six months, showcasing significant pre-market traction. Additionally, the company has introduced the ‘Udaan’ Painter Partnership Programme, along with a dedicated Painter App and website, to empower contractors in showcasing their work and attracting new clientele.
Himanshu Kapania, Director of Aditya Birla Group, expressed confidence in Birla Opus’s potential to capture a high-single-digit market share by the end of FY25, positioning itself as the second-largest player in the decorative paints segment. This announcement comes amidst industry optimism for the decorative cement sector, with expectations of reaching a market size of ₹1 lakh crore within the next five years.
