Leading paint makers expect an uptick in sales and volume in the ongoing quarter as they see green shoots, along with improvement in margins, helped by benign material prices.
However, they also foresee higher competitive intensity in the market as they go ahead.
Moreover, some makers also reported cumulative price increases of 1.5-2 per cent after the country's paint sector saw aggressive discounting due to new entrants.
1 December 2025
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Listed players such as Asian Paints, Kansai Nerolac, Berger, and AkzoNobel India, in their latest earnings calls mentioned the impact on their topline from the extended monsoon in the second quarter, although there was an uptick in sales from September.
Expecting a steady uptick in consumption in the second half (H1) of FY26, led by factors such as a good monsoon, GST relief, among others, paint makers will continue to invest in innovations and in advertising and promotion.
They further said November and December will see improvement in margins, assisted by benign material prices.
"The industry, in Q2, just grew about 3.5-4 per cent. So, it's not been something which has been really great. Monsoon was the spoilsport, and the festive window was also small," said Asian Paints MD & CEO Amit Syngle in an investors' call.
However, Syngle also said he witnessed "green shoots" in the months of September and October 2025.
"We are also seeing that as we go ahead, there is a very strong marriage season which is going to provide support. We have had good monsoons which would augur well for possibly some growth in terms of the rural markets. And finally, I think GST corrections would create an uptick in the consumption," he said.
Syngle cautiously said, "We need to be a little bit conservative in terms of seeing how the overall environment kind of augurs out as we look at the next three months and the six months." Overall, the "competitive intensity" will remain in the market and all players putting their best foot forward in terms of what they are doing.
Asian Paints, a leader in the segment, reported 6.38 per cent increase in sales to Rs 8,513.70 crore in the September quarter of FY26.
Kansai Nerolac Paints, also faced continued rain disruptions in the second quarter of FY26, had a "slight uptick" towards the back end of September.
It expects consumption demand "to pick up steadily in the second half of the fiscal year", helped by supportive economic measures.
Replying to a query, its Managing Director Pravin Chaudhari said in October, there might be some challenges, but he said he is hopeful of an uplift in demand in November and December.
"So we are hoping that in November and December, we will see some kind of uptick. But I think looking at the trend that we are seeing, I believe quarter 4 should be far better in terms of the growth prospects, both for decorative and industrial," he said during the company's earnings conference call.
On paint and coating space getting more competitive, Chaudhari said Kansai Nerolac have been maintaining a balanced portfolio.
"...we are facing very heavy competition in decorative (segment). So, as far as we are concerned, while we are definitely going to protect our decorative market, which we are trying to do through the last two quarters, we will make calculated investments in our strong markets and improve our product mix and not getting into products that are actually low or almost zero profits. So that's a clear strategy," he said.
For the September quarter, Kansai Nerolac posted an 11.3 per cent rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 133.31, though its revenue from operations was flat at Rs 1,954.18 crore.
Similarly, Berger Paints India MD & CEO Abhijit Roy also expects growth in November and December.
"With demand picking up, we expect that with the pent-up demand being there, sales should improve," he said, while replying to a question.
Berger Paints also expects improvement of gross margin in the short term, aided by benign raw material prices and improving product mix.
On being asked about the fierce competition in the domestic paint market, Roy said, it continues; however, the intensity has stabilised in the marketplace.
"...the type of market share that they (new players) were taking away from the industry, that will get moderated completely, and the impact, therefore, will be less on the existing players going forward," he said.
Berger's consolidated revenue from operations was up 1.9 per cent to Rs 2,827.49 crore in the September quarter of FY26, though profit was down 23.5 per cent to Rs 206.4 crore.
AkzoNobel India CMD Rajiv Rajgopal said the sector has cumulative price correction in the region of about 1.5-2 per cent. The sector has seen aggressive discounting because of the new entrants, which have come in.
"I see next quarter definitely as a double-digit growth quarter for volumes and high single-digit for revenue," he said.
Asian Paints, Berger Paints, and Kansai Nerolac are the major players in the Indian paint industry, which, according to reports, control over three-fourths of the market.
In the last 5-6 years, several new players have entered this market, including Pidilite with Haisha Paints, Grasim with its Birla Opus, and JSW Paints.
India's paint industry is led by Asian Paints. Besides, Berger, Kansai Nerolac, Akzo Nobel India (Dulux), Indigo Paints, Shalimar Paints, and Nippon Paints are the other top brands.
