Birla Opus will operationalise its Kharagpur plant through trial runs from the fourth quarter of fiscal 2025. The Grasim Industries Ltd. subsidiary has already commercialised four of its six plants.
Speaking to NDTV Profit on the sidelines of the Confederation of Indian Industries' 15th National FMCG Summit, Birla Opus' Chief Executive Officer Rakshit Hargave said, "Of the remaining two plants, the Mahad plant in Maharashtra is undergoing trial manufacturing, while the Kharagpur one will commence trial runs from the January-March quarter."
NDTV Profit had earlier reported that revenue numbers of Birla Opus will be available only after all six plants are operational. Until then, sales will be adjusted to capital works-in-progress.
Hargave also said that while company is picking up signals of weak urban demand from its dealers, he believes it to be a cyclical trend which will reverse soon.
He also reiterated the company's market share guidance, saying, "In terms of market share, we want to be in single digits on the higher side by the end of fiscal 2025. For growing this, we will partner with dealers of all sizes across all locations."
When asked whether the paint maker plans to alter retail prices in order to improve market share, Hargave said, "We are not anticipating any major disruption or change in prices on consumer-end anytime soon."
Grasim, controlled by billionaire Kumar Mangalam Birla, debuted in the decorative paints business in February with the Birla Opus brand. The flagship company of the Aditya Birla Group had set a bold target of achieving revenues of Rs 10,000 crore within three years of operation.
Earlier this year, Berger Paints Ltd. said that it lost 1.5% growth to the new competitor in the July-September period. "As far as the Birlas are concerned, they have installed a large number of machines, and it has made persistent efforts on consumers and dealers," Berger CEO Abhijit Roy had told investors in a post-earnings conference call.
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