Norway-based Jotun Paints, a recent entrant in the country, has set up its first plant in Ranjangaon near Pune with an investment of around Rs125 crore.
Targets 8% market share in 2 years
KOLKATA: Norway-based Jotun Paints, a recent entrant in the country, has set up its first plant in Ranjangaon near Pune with an investment of around Rs125 crore.
The plant will manufacture its entire range of paints, including decorative, protective, marine and powder coatings.
Jotun’s greenfield project, along with the host of foreign players like Sherwin and Nippon who are fast expanding their footprint in India, is expected to change the dynamics of the colour space in the country.
In spite of strong competition, both from domestic players and other global majors, the company has set an aggressive target of 8% market share in the next two years.
The Pune plant has a capacity to produce up to 50 million litres in wet paint and 10,000 tonnes of powder coatings.
Claes Jansson, managing director, Jotun Paints India said, “We have closely assessed the Indian paint sector over the last two years and are now set with a plant of our own to make our presence felt. While we will drive our dominance in industrial and marine coatings, along with the decorative segment, we will look at capturing a market share of 8% by end of 2010.”
Jotun is said to be looking actively at Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra and will move to northern markets like Gujarat, Delhi and Haryana subsequently.
The company, which is very strong in the Gulf region, is focused on south India.
Sources said mergers and acquisitions are not Jotun’s style, and it might come up with another manufacturing unit after a few years.
It will be interesting to see how Jotun Paints makes a mark on the decorative market, which at present is dominated by Indian biggies like Asian Paints, Berger, Kansai Nerolac and ICI.
Unlike Indian paint companies, Jotun is not exactly driven by dealers on the marketing front. Rather, it has a shop-in-shop concept through which it sells paints. Industry sources hinted that the company is likely to expand to 300 outlets once its starts operations in India.
Currently, almost 90% of its turnover is from project sales.
At present, Jotun Paints’ turnover is around Rs100 crore, contributed mainly by marine paints and protective coatings, apart from decoratives, which it plans to increase to Rs110 crore next year.
g_nandini@dnaindia.net
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