Asian Paints, India's largest coatings company and the world's ninth-largest coatings manufacturer, recently announced its financial results for the quarter ended June 30, 2024.

Consolidated net sales in Asia Coatings fell by 2.3 per cent to Rs.8,943 crore (Rs.9,154 crore or $1.07 billion) in the same period last year, the report showed. Net profit fell by 24.5 per cent to Rs.1,17 billion. PBDIT (Profit before Depreciation, Interest, Taxes, Other Income and Special Items, excluding Profits from Associates) also fell sharply by 20.2 per cent to Rs 1,694 crore (US$200 million) from Rs.2,121 crore.

Commenting on the financial results, Amit Syngle, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Asia Coatings Ltd., said: "During the quarter, we faced the twin challenges of a severe heat wave and the general election, which made the overall demand situation in the coatings industry very severe. "In the first quarter of this year, sales in Asia Paint & Decoration (India) increased by 7 percent, mainly due to positive changes in the rural market, however, revenue decreased by 3 percent due to price reductions and product mix changes implemented in the previous quarter.

"Rising material prices and supply chain challenges impacted the profitability of our Decoration business in the quarter," Syngle noted. However, the Industrial business performed relatively well, growing by 5.8% by value on the back of strong growth in the automotive OEM and powder coatings divisions. In addition, he mentioned that the company's revolutionary latex paint NeoBharat has made good progress in the economic segment and has become one of the company's key strategies to further enter the "bottom of the pyramid" segment.

It is understood that the revolutionary latex paint NeoBharat launched by Asia Paints is equipped with special polymer technology, which has excellent finish, higher coverage and better washing resistance. In addition to being affordable, it offers consumers more than 1,000 shades and is one of the most important products of Asian Paint to date.