Country Head of Asian Paints Ritesh Doshi — FE Photo Asian Paints, a multinational paint manufacturer, is planning to set up a modern paint manufacturing facility at Mirsharai Economic Zone in Chittagong, its Country Head in Bangladesh Ritesh Doshi has revealed.
The construction of the state-of-the-art plant will start by December this year and once completed, this will be Asian Paint's second manufacturing facility in Bangladesh, Doshi said in an exclusive interview with the FE.
"We have already signed a lease agreement with Bangladesh Economic Zone Authority in this regard and the construction of the plant will start by December," he said.
"We are committed to investing around US$25 million to $30 million in phase one of this scheme," Doshi added.
Bangladesh's paint market has seen exponential growth in recent decades due to the boom in real estate business and infrastructure development. The total market size for paints in the country is estimated to be around Tk 35 billion, which is growing at an annual rate of 8.0 to 10 per cent.
Asian Paints, which currently has the second largest share in this growing market, usually supply its products from its sole manufacturing plant in the country located in Gazipur.
"However, the planned Mirsharai plant will be substantially bigger than our Gazipur plant and one of the biggest paint manufacturing facilities in the country," Doshi said.
"Apart from decorative paintings, the Mirsharai plant will also produce some niche products as well as some technology incentive products," he informed.
"Most importantly, at present, we have to import most of our raw materials from abroad. However, in the Mirsharai plant, we would look to produce some of these raw materials locally which would bring down the import cost", he further said.
The Asian Paints country head also said that his company is actively considering floating shares in the local capital market in the future.
"We are quite actively considering that option," Doshi said. "This is because firstly, we want to be an active participant in the local stock exchanges. Secondly, given the investment that we are going to make at Mirsharai plant, we are now more eagerly looking into this option," he added.
The Asian Paints local boss also informed that his company has moved for more diversification of its product ranges in recent years.
"While we started in the local market with the basic decorative products, lately we have launched a number of niche products as well".
"For example, water proof painting as well as industrial painting has a huge potential in the local market and we have launched relevant products in these two segments in Bangladesh last year", Doshi stated.
Although Bangladesh is one of the fastest growing markets for Asian Paints, the company's country head also observed that inadequate logistics and infrastructure remain two major bottlenecks for doing business in the country.
"There is also a need for further innovation and customer orientation in the market-and this is something where we are trying to bring in our international expertise," Doshi said.
Headquartered in Mumbai, India, Asian Paints is now the third largest paint company in Asia. The company operates in 16 countries and has 26 paint manufacturing facilities around the globe, and servicing consumers in over 65 countries, according to its website.
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