By Abhishek Law

Copyright thehindubusinessline

An ownership re-boot, with new investors coming in 2022, and a management rejig nearly three years after that, Shalimar Paints, the country’s oldest paint company that began its journey from West Bengal’s Howrah, colloquially called Sheffield of the East, is looking to regain its shine.

As India’s paint market turns competitive, the Hella Infra Market-backed company, is now targeting a near 45 per cent jump in revenues over a two-year period (by FY27) to ₹1,000 crore.

Tapping new investors, including PE funds, for a ₹100–200 crore fund-raise, is another option that is being explored and discussed internally.

Plant and machinery reworks, a near ₹100–120 crore investment towards automation and setting up R&D facilities, and doubling distribution to over 10,000 are being explored. The company is looking to bring in and install modern day tinting machines across dealers. Most of these plans have already been put in motion.

Three facilities

Shalimar Paints has three facilities now, Sikandrabad (Uttar Pradesh), Chennai (Tamil Nadu) and Nashik (Maharashtra), with a combined capacity of 1 lakh kilo litres per annum with an overall capacity utilisation of 60–65 per cent.

“The three existing facilities take care of our North, East, West and Southern markets at present. Howrah Plant is currently non-operational, but, we will look at the facility when we look to up presence in WB, North-East & Bhutan. It’s one step at a time for us now,” said Kuldip Raina, MD and CEO, Shalimar Paints.

Raina, an FMCG & paint industry veteran, was recently elevated as MD and CEO of the company, marking its first major rejig, post new investors coming in.

At present, nearly 66 per cent of the Shalimar’s sales come from East and North-Eastern markets, a place where the brand enjoyed a historical high presence.

Decorative to industrial paints contribution is around 63:37; Raina says, the plan is to up presence in decorative by another 3–4 percentage points by penetrating into towns with population of 50,000 and below through indirect channel of distributors and wholesalers.

Iconic status and takeovers

Shalimar Paint Color & Varnish Company was established in 1902 in Howrah, West Bengal by Britishers AN Turner and AN Wright. It has put sheen on iconic structures like Rashtrapati Bhavan and the Howrah Bridge & most recently the Chenab railway bridge.

Around 1990, the company was acquired by Ratan Jindal, who now holds more than 20 per cent stake. Hong Kong-based businessman Girish Jhunjhunwala is the other promoter with a 10 per cent holding.

Early last year, strategic investor, Hella Infra Market, increased its stake to 53 percent becoming the largest shareholder .

“Fund raising through PEs is an ongoing discussion. We do not mind a ₹100–200 crore infusion, but considering the current competitiveness in the paints sector, and the sudden slowdown in growth, we need to first consolidate our presence & drive profitability. Then, plan ahead,” Raina said.

Journey with new promoters

Post Hella Infra Market coming on-board, turnover has doubled to nearly ₹600 crore in FY25. But the company continues to be in losses of around ₹80 crore. The debt–equity ratio is also up 0.55 (from 0.27) on account of increased borrowings.

However, net capital ratio increased 118 per cent y-o-y to 11.83 per cent for FY25 (vs 5.4 per cent), on account of increase in revenue from operations and change in working capital.

Hella Infra has three directors on board at present, Aditya Gajendra Sharda, Souvik Pulakesh Sengupta and Shan Jain.

Former Chairman of Shalimar Paints, Rajeev Uberoi, is a Director of the company. He is also part of Ratan Jindal’s Jindal Stainless as director.

Vijay Sharma, Director Jindal Stainelss Steelway, a wholly owned subsidiary of Jindal Stainless, is on-board the paint company as an independent director.

Published on September 17, 2025