Kansai Nerolac bets on bright prospects in country

India-based Kansai Nerolac Paints – a subsidiary of Japan's Kansai Paint Co – started its business in Bangladesh in 2018, and has already taken the third spot in the country's coating industry. Despite the country's present economic worries, the company is looking to bolster its local market presence with new product launches and investments.

Kansai Nerolac Bangladesh Head of Marketing Nurul Karim Sifat recently shared his experiences, visions and future expectations about doing business in the country with The Business Standard.

Tell us about Nerolac's business in Bangladesh?

Kansai Nerolac Paints started its operations in Bangladesh in 2018 and has remained the country's fastest growing company since then. We are the most preferred brand in the corporate segment. Our parent company Kansai Paint Co has been operating in 80 countries in Asia, Europe, America and Africa. With an experience of 104 years, the parent company is now the 8th largest paint manufacturer in the world.

What is the relation of Kansai with Nerolac?

Kansai Paints operates in different names in different continents by acquiring the most prominent brand in its target region. In Europe, our company name is Helios and in Africa we operate as Plascon. Since Nerolac remained a popular brand in South Asia for a long tiem, by acquiring the company we started operating as Kansai Nerolac in this region.
In Bangladesh our company started business by acquiring RAK Paints in 2018.

What are the possibilities in the country's paints market?

The country's paint industry is worth around Tk6,000 crore and last year industry growth was 15%. New segments are propping up such as coating works for two- and three-wheelers. In mega projects, high performance coating demand is increasing, and hopefully the momentum would continue this year as well. There are some doubts over these prospects due to the current economic crisis, but we are hopeful to do well in this financial year as well and defy the odds.

What differentiates your products from other companies'?

In the decorative segment, our products are unique compared with those of competitors. We are offering a few added features in our regular market products for the same price charged by others. Some of these features are being offered by others but in their more expensive segments. Also, in the industrial segment, our products are unparalleled.

What role has your company played in the development of the country's paint market?

Kansai Nerolac Paints is also associated with various mega projects of the country like the Dhaka Metro Rail project, where our products were exclusively used in the steel structures. The country's first-ever domestically produced three-wheeler from Runner Automobiles Ltd has been painted by Kansai Nerolac Paints. Some of our other completed and running projects are the Padma Bridge Rail Link Project, Terminal 3 of Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport and Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant. 
We have a reputation for bringing many breakthrough innovations in coating technologies, some of which have saved millions in cash for the automobile companies in terms of operating cost and capital expenditure. 

How is your investment here?

We have two factories in the country. In 2020-21 financial year, we invested around $3 million in infrastructure development and this calendar year, we are investing $3 million more to strengthen the product line.

Any words for future plans?

We are planning to launch wood and coil coating solutions this year. In the decorative segment, there would be a few innovative products that we will launch soon as part of efforts to further expand in the country's residential building sector. Notably, the demand for residential apartments is growing throughout the country.