Berger Paints India Ltd is an Indian paint company based in India. The company is headquartered at Kolkata and has 14 manufacturing units in India, 2 in Nepal, 1 each in Poland and Russia. It has manufacturing units at Howrah and Rishra, Arinso, Taloja, Naltoli, Goa, Devla, Hindupur, Jejuri, Jammu, Puducherry and Udyognagar. The company has presence in 5 countries – India, Russia, Poland, Nepal and Bangladesh. They have an employee strength of over 3,500 and a countrywide distribution network of 25,000+ dealers.
History
In 1770, Louis Steigenberger shifted from Frankfurt to London to sell a Prussian blue colour, which was made using his own formula. He then changed his name to Lewis Berger. By 1870, Berger Paints was selling 19 different pigments such as black lead, sulphur, sealing wax and mustard. After his demise, his sons took over the business. In the 1900s, Sherwin-Williams, an American company took control of the company. On 17 December 1923, Mr. Hadfield set up Hadfield's Ltd., a small paint company in Calcutta. Towards the end of 1947, British Paints acquired Hadfield's Ltd and thus British Paints Ltd was incorporated in the State of West Bengal. In 1951, sales offices were opened in Delhi and Mumbai and a depot was started in Guwahati. In 1969, Berger Jenson Nicholson Limited, UK bought British Paints Ltd. This marked the beginning of Lewis Berger’s legacy in India. In the year 1973, D. Madhukar took over as the Managing Director. Sales figures reached over Rs. 160 million by 1978. The 80s and the 90s saw the launch of many new products such as emulsions and distempers. In 1991, UB group sold the company to Kuldip Singh Dhingra and Gurbachan Singh Dhingra. Subir Bose took over as Managing Director on 1 July 1994. Bose retired on 30 June 2012, handing over the company to Abhijit Roy, the current managing director.
Operations
Apart from operations in Russia and a production facility at the Berger manufacturing unit at Krasnodar, Berger Paints India also has an operational unit in Nepal. They have also acquired Bolix SA of Poland, a provider of External Insulation Finishing Systems in Eastern Europe.
