Thought leadership: Amit Syngle- Managing Director and CEO of Asian Paints reacts to their Q4 performance and growth projections

The company announced its results yesterday.

The Asian Paints group is the largest paint manufacturer in India also engaged in the business of manufacturing varnishes, enamels or lacquers, surfacing preparation, organic composite solvents, and thinners.

Here’s what the CEO and MD Amit Syngle said about the performance and goals for the new financial year.

Amit Syngle said the Q4FY22 numbers are mostly based on very strong February and March numbers as January was affected by the pandemic. They saw that the demand from Tier 3 and 4 cities has dropped to a certain extent and Tier 1, 2, and metro cities also saw some product downgrading for the reason that there is an increase in their pricing structure. But he mentioned that overall, there was healthy demand in February and March and he expects this to continue going forward. But inflation can cause some disruptions. 

In comparison to the inflation, their Q4 was pretty decent. They have taken measures to curb inflation as they need to balance consumer demand along with the higher pricing. Regarding the normalizing of their EBITDA levels, he stated that on a standalone basis they’ve improved and are almost reaching the 19-20% margin, a far better improvement than Q3. 

Going forward there will be some price hikes but they will also have some internal cost controls. They would maintain the 18-21% band going ahead. He mentioned that their home décor segment will be a significant part of their core business, as they operate in the same consumer domain. Their bath and kitchen business is already doing exceptionally well. They have acquired different companies like White Teak, Weatherseal, and GM Syntex which will help them establish an entire range of home décor products under one roof. 

Amit Syngle concluded by saying that the theme for the future will be innovation-focused and getting things done which the brand has been doing for the past 20 years. He is not worried about the increasing competition and he is confident that how they are headed their business would expand and stand out.