How does the slowdown in the real estate sector affect the paint industry?
A slowdown in the construction activity will definitely have a significant impact on the paint industry. Part of this great boom we experienced in the paint industry was because of this construction boom, which took place from 1993 onwards. At this point of time if theres a slowdown, its bound to affect the industry. In fact, there are two aspects to the demand. For example, the repainting demand is about existing houses that come up for repainting in a cycle of three-four years. And then there are these new projects. Its this aspect that will be impacted if theres a slowdown. But 60-70% of the demand is still from repainting. That being so, there will always be certain amount of growth in that sector. Because incomes are growing and people are using better quality paints today. So, the demand is growing. I cant visualise a situation where we will have negative growth. But even in the paint industry, which are the growth areas? If you look at the paint industry decorative paints or arc
