Berger Paints India Ltd today inaugurated its largest water-based paint manufacturing unit with an initial capacity of 80,000 tons at Hindupur in the Anantapur District of Andhra Pradesh .

Kuldeep Singh Dhingra, Chairman, Berger Paints, said in the final phase the factory will have a capacity of 3,20,000 tons per annum. Additionally, there will be a plant for the manufacture of 1,00,000 KL of emulsion, a key raw material, for which a provision already exists.

“The emulsion facility will be commissioned soon upon receipt of all clearances. Side by side, Berger India Group is opening a plastic packaging factory.

“Another Berger factory is coming up in the Gollapuram Industrial Area, just 3 to 4 km from Hindupur site, for manufacture of 40,000 tonnes of paint. Total investment in the Hindupur area by the Berger India Group will be close to Rs 550 crore,” Dhingra said.

Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy formally inaugurated the plant.

Talking to reporters, Abhijit Roy, Managing Director and CEO, Berger Paints, said the company would be hiking prices by 2.2 per cent on decorative range of products from February 1.

This is a third hike during the financial year, taking the overall hike to about 4.8 to 5 per cent, Roy said.

The Kolkata-headquartered paint-maker has facilities in four countries — Nepal, Bangladesh, Poland and Russia. Roy said currently revenues from overseas constitute 10 per cent of the overall income.

He also said the company expects double digit growth in terms of revenues in the current fiscal. The paint-maker reported nearly Rs 1,650 crore revenues with over Rs 110 crore net profit for the first half of the current year.

source: http://www.business-standard.com / Business Standard / Home> PTI Stories> National> Nes / by Press Trust of India / Hyderabad – January 31st, 2014