Berger Paints to hike price from September 1; increases Lucknow plant capex to Rs 800 crore

Abhijit Roy, MD & CEO of Berger Paints India, on Thursday, said that the next price increase will be effective from September 1.

In an interview to CNBC-TV18, Roy spoke at length about the demand picture in India amid the backdrop of COVID recovery and rising crude prices. The paint stock is up 40 percent this year and is currently trading at Rs 786 on the NSE.

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“We have taken a lot of price increases, the last one will come into effect from September 1. We took it in steps so that the market doesn't get too disturbed. As of now, as things stand, we are more or less covered on the raw material price increase. Going into Q3, the profit should be good. Q2 had a little bit of pressure because it (price increase) was taken in steps in July, August and September,” he said.

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On capex, Roy said, “It got postponed because of the situation on the ground, so it got delayed in terms of starting, but it's being worked upon now, and the progress is pretty good. So, the Lucknow plant is on stream and instead of coming on stream possibly around February, it will get delayed by a month or two. In fact, we have increased the capex from what we had originally planned. We have raised it to about Rs 800 crore plus from Rs 600-650 crore.”

For the entire management interview, watch the video