Auto Monitor
8
8 JULY 2013
INTERVIEW
The view from the top Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd, the Indian arm of the Japanese paint major, is a leading paint supplier to the automotive industry with a 65 percent market share. Pravin Chaudhari, Executive Director, Auto Division & Supply Chain, Kansai Nerolac Paints Ltd. in a tête-à-tête with Abhishek Parekh. What is your outlook on vehicle sales in India? The long-term outlook for passenger vehicles continues to be attractive. However there is a significant level of uncertainty. The sales (and production) situation has deteriorated this quarter as compared to the same period last year. We are hopeful of recovery in Q2, in the run-up to the festive season. How has your performance been in the auto refinish market? We made a re-entry into the auto refinish market last year after a long time. We did not have a presence in the refinish market due to certain legacy issues as well as lack of focus. The auto refinish market has been grow-
ing steadily last few years and is worth Rs 1,000-odd crore. We are looking to be a serious player. What value proposition can Kansai offer in the segment? A player must offer prompt technical support to service the body shops and automobile dealers. We are offering a polyurethane-based coating that can reduce energy consumption by around 10 percent due to higher productivity (or faster turnaround) and lesser baking temperature requirements as compared to similar PU-based refinish coatings. We have solvent and waterborne coating solutions in the premium PU coating for the refinish segment and are looking to offer a com-
pelling proposition to customers. Customers are looking for quality work and, in case of full body panel painting, a larger colour range. We believe we can make a difference. Our customer relationships are driven by four value propositions, i.e., performance, appearance, cost and environment. We have manufacturing facilities in four regions and a countrywide service network so we are in a position to offer technical support. How do you see process or technology evolution in the original equipment (OE) and refinish market going forward? We offer solvent or waterborne coating solutions to customers in the auto sector. Although a waterborne painting system is an environment-friendly alternative, it is a sensitive technology and demands lot of conditioning of paint booth and surrounding environment. It is also a more expensive process as compared to solvent-based technologies
and may not be suitable for all categories of vehicles. We offer solvent process based solutions to customers that can reduce VOC (Volatile Organic Compound) content in the paint by 10-15 percent, or more. This high solid paint can meet the environment needs of OEMs until their processes and support systems evolve to waterborne coating solutions. Most customers have adopted improvements in coating process like 3C2B to 3C1B, thus reducing the overall cost of operating the oven for the baking process. Over the long term, market and environmental imperatives point towards a shift to waterborne coating system for OEMs. Most of the newer car manufacturing facilities are flexible and can work on both solvent and waterborne coating processes. What are your future plans in the OE and refinish segment? We want to emerge as a serious player in the refinish segment and are putting resources in place. As the automobile market evolves, we will witness an increasing demand for a larger colour range and better quality and are looking to capitalise on the advantages of the huge ‘shade bank’ available with Kansai Japan that can be made available to customers. We would like to supply more heavy metal free paints to customers even though a regulatory environment against the usage of heavy metals is yet to take shape in India. We are focussed on growing our market share with existing customers in the OE segment.
Getting its... Contd. from Pg 01 The efforts are showing. The team at Mahindra Two Wheelers looks a lot more confident since the first time they unveiled the new models in January 2013. The nerves have calmed down and larger plans are being made. In the next 30 months, the company states it will launch a new product every quarter. That’s ten new products under development ranging from 100cc to 300cc in the scooter and motorcycle segment. A new product, possibly a scooter, could be launched in the next few months. On upcoming launches, Ashok says, “Within this financial year, we will have two new products. A new scooter is on the anvil. We are in the final stages of development.” This will be followed by the Mojo. Some time ago, Rajiv Bajaj had said that one should stick to what they are known for to be successful, indicating at Mahindra entering the motorcycle business. He may just have to eat his words. But more than that, it’s good to see new competition doing well in such tough economic conditions.