Asian Paints to spend Rs 200 cr for Haryana plant

Asian Paints Ltd plans to spend nearly Rs 200 crore to set up the first phase of a 150,000 kilolitres per annum paint manufacturing plant at Rohtak, Haryana, senior officials said.

India's largest paints maker announced in July that it would set up a new plant in north India - its largest - but did not disclose the investment or capacities involved.

"We are currently acquiring the land. Then there will be environmental impact assesment, which should take another 12 months," Vice Chairman and Managing Director Ashwin Dani told Reuters.

The company is spending Rs 90 crore on land acquisition, which has been budgeted in the 2007/08 capex plan, he said. The balance will be spent on setting up the facility, which is expected to start operations by the end of 2009.

The unit would start out by making wall finishes and capacity will be added as and when other products are to be manufactured, another official said.

Demand in the Indian paint industry has grown at 18-20 per cent for the last two years, driven by a growing economy and a boom in the housing and automobile sectors. This has led to expansion of local firms and also attracted foreign players.

Asian Paints has been a key beneficiary of the boom as it dominates the decorative paints market and is No. 2 in the industrial paints segment.

To keep pace, it has expanded capacity several times in this period and also outsources about one-fifth of its requirements.

It currently operates eight plants in India, producing 360,000 kilolitres of paint every year.

Its largest plant, at Sriperumbudur in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, is currently undergoing expansion to double capacity to 100,000 kilolitres, which will take care of requirements till 2009.