Paint Giant Struggles to Sell! Last Year’s Revenue Declines 4.5% to 28.7 Billion RMB

On May 8, Asian Paints released its audited financial results for the fourth quarter and full year ending March 31, 2025. The full year consolidated net sales amounted to ?33,797.36 crore (approximately USD 3.944 billion), a 4.5% decrease year-on-year. The gross margin was about 42.3%, down nearly 100 basis points. The pre-tax profit was ?5,103.1 crore, a 30.55% decline compared to last year. The net profit was ?3,709.7 crore (about USD 432.9 million), a significant year-on-year decrease of 33.25%. The net profit attributable to shareholders decreased by 32.8% to ?3,667.0 crore.

According to the financial report, Asian Paints' international business showed a slight 0.2% increase in sales for FY2025, growing 8.6% at constant exchange rates, with sales reaching ?3,066.4 crore (approximately USD 357.8 million). The pre-tax profit for the international business in FY2025 was a loss of ?63.2 crore, compared to a profit of ?169.5 crore in the same period last year. While businesses in the Middle East and some parts of Asia remained stable, several African markets were impacted by macroeconomic conditions.

Home Décor Business Segment

The Home Décor segment achieved sales of ?909 crore (approximately USD 106.2 million) in FY2025, with the following breakdown:

• Bathroom business grew by 4.7% YoY to ?356.1 crore;
• Kitchen business revenue was ?393.5 crore, essentially flat YoY;
• Teak wood business sales fell 19.9% YoY to ?106.8 crore;
• Weatherproof sealants business grew by 1.8% YoY to ?52.6 crore.

Industrial Coatings Business Segment

The Industrial Coatings segment achieved sales of ?3,329.6 crore (approximately USD 388.6 million) in FY2025, with the following breakdown:

• APPPG sales grew by 4.1% YoY to ?1,193.1 crore;
• Pre-tax profit decreased to ?101.3 crore from ?134.2 crore last year;
• PPGAP sales grew by 6.0% YoY to ?2,136.5 crore;
• Pre-tax profit for PPGAP in FY2025 was ?375.2 crore, up from ?356.0 crore last year.

CEO's Comments

Asian Paints CEO Amit Syngle commented that the fourth quarter of FY2025 was a difficult period in terms of demand. Looking at the overall data, sales growth for Q4 was about 1.8%, but value decreased by about 5.2%. Over the 12 months, sales grew by about 2.5%, but value decreased by about 5.7%. Overall, FY2025 was a tough year for the entire paint industry, and this was reflected in the weak demand we saw throughout the year.

However, the impact on the decorative segment was much greater than on the industrial segment. Industrial business seems to have performed much better in terms of growth. The industrial business includes automotive coatings, industrial coatings, protective coatings, powder coatings, and automotive refinish paints, and this quarter showed good growth. If you add up the numbers, it is clear that Q4 saw a 2.1% growth in volume and a 4.1% growth in value. Over the full year, volume grew by about 2.8% YoY, and value grew by about 4.6%. Therefore, the industrial business showed a positive growth trajectory this year.

The entire quarter was affected by weak demand. As in the previous period, lower-tier cities performed relatively better than the first- and second-tier cities. Therefore, the development in urban centers has been slower, as we have observed. This trend continued in Q4. With the country’s ongoing expansion, we are seeking more distribution points from suburban areas of big cities and small towns. This attempt is still ongoing. Over a period, we have created around 169,000 touchpoints, a quite strong number that has been growing quarter by quarter, and this number has really been rising over the years.

Amit Syngle further mentioned that one area where we have excelled is in the B2B sector, which has now transformed into B2C, directly targeting some small builders in the CHS sector, B2B targeting large companies, large builders, and key clients, and B2G directly targeting the government. This is the structure of our entire B2B business. It has been a powerful initiative that has continuously evolved over time. In Q4, we saw strong momentum across our B2B business.

From an innovation standpoint, Asian Paints has developed more than 300 new products over the past five years, which are now available in the market. We really believe that this brand has presented different propositions to the market, which has resonated with customers and distributors. This continues to be a major initiative. In the past five years, we have created over 130 patents, and this trajectory contributed nearly 14% to Q4 revenue. Therefore, from an innovation perspective, this has been a very strong initiative.

Future Strategies

Amit Syngle shared that another major strategy is backward integration. The company has invested in a white cement plant in Fujairah, Dubai, with a capacity of 275,000 tons. This plant will start operations in June this year, and we will continue to focus on white cement from this plant, marking our first foray into the cement industry. The second major investment is in advanced emulsions, which is an environmentally friendly future project. It is futuristic, and only about four players in the world possess this technology. This is our first capital expenditure project exceeding ?3,000 crore. It will partially operate between March and April 2026 and fully by April 2027. We believe once these projects are completed, they will significantly increase our overall profit and product quality innovations. We have set very strong goals in this regard.

Company Background

Asian Paints was founded in 1942 and is a publicly listed Indian company. Its business includes architectural coatings, industrial coatings, wood coatings, waterproofing solutions, wallpapers, base materials, adhesives, painting tools, home décor materials, and white cement. Asian Paints and its subsidiaries have 26 paint production plants in 14 countries worldwide, serving consumers in over 60 countries through brands such as Asian Paints, Apco Coatings, Asian Paints Eques, Asian Paints Causeway, SCIB Coatings, Taubmans, and Kadisco Asian Paints.