Indian Paints Sector (Fy26 / Q4 Fy26) — Competitive Reset, Pricing Catch-Up, And The Shift From “Paint” To “Solutions”

A data-driven sector synthesis across large incumbents and challengers shows: (1) demand improved materially through FY26 with a strong Q4, (2) the industry is still catching up on cumulative inflation via calibrated pricing while using discounting/schemes to defend volumes, (3) margins diverged sharply based on mix (premium vs economy), raw-material timing, and intensity of A&P / channel investments, and (4) the next phase of competition is increasingly about services, waterproofing/construction chemicals, projects/B2B, and distribution technology (tinting machines + store formats), not only decorative paint SKUs.

A. Industry Overview & Market Landscape

A1) What The Sector “Is” (As Represented By Disclosed Businesses)

The disclosed set spans:

• Decorative paints (interior/exterior emulsions, enamels, primers, distempers) — the volume backbone and the largest revenue pool for most players.
• Waterproofing + construction chemicals (WP/CC) — now a high-growth adjacency and often a margin/mix lever (explicitly highlighted by Asian Paints, Berger, Nerolac, Indigo/Apple Chemie).
• Wood coatings — premium subsegment with specification-driven selling (Sirca’s core; Indigo also has wood coatings growth; Berger calls out robust double-digit wood coatings growth).
• **Industrial