Pidilite prioritises AI effectiveness before workforce cuts

Pidilite is prioritising AI-led sales effectiveness, manufacturing quality and supply-chain service before considering workforce reductions, with its top 30 leaders completing a one-day hands-on AI workshop. Management said productivity and manpower reduction are Phase 2 discussions, while the immediate focus is improving workflows and supporting growth with limited additions to people.

What is Pidilite’s first priority for AI?

Pidilite’s first priority for AI is making commercial and operational work more effective rather than cutting staff costs. In response to a question on potential operating leverage in sales, field roles and advertising and promotion expenditure, management said efficiency, productivity and manpower reduction would be considered subsequently. It described the initial protocol as improving current work and outcomes during an ongoing growth phase.

Pidilite has started this programme with leadership training and wider employee participation. Its top 30 leaders attended a full-day hands-on workshop in which they coded and experimented with AI. The company has also conducted its first AI hackathon and said a second was approaching, open across seniority levels and age groups. Management said it had identified several potential use cases, including agentic applications in human resources assessments and, over time, finance.

How is Pidilite applying AI to sales and marketing?

Pidilite is applying AI at the front end to customise communications, improve range selling and organise influencer activity by category. Management said AI-led analytics can support decisions on what to sell in, while AI can help create or adapt copy faster. It also highlighted the ability to produce multiple versions of content, including language adaptations and short-form formats, across its brands.

The work is being undertaken alongside campaigns in Consumer and Bazaar, or C&B, and construction chemicals. Pidilite said its Kursi Pe Nazar campaign ran in the first quarter, a new Roff campaign began in the middle of the second quarter, and new Dr. Fixit copy was introduced toward the end of the second quarter. Management said Roff and Dr. Fixit would have greater visibility in the third quarter, creating a near-term setting for more customised AI-supported messaging.

Pidilite is also using AI to work with micro, medium and mega influencers in different product areas. Management said influencer requirements vary by category, and the company is examining how AI can help define groups, manage them and adapt content. It did not provide a target for lower media, agency or field-marketing costs, nor did it say that AI would replace those activities.

What manufacturing and supply-chain uses is Pidilite developing?

Pidilite is developing AI use cases in manufacturing to improve material variances and deliver more consistent product quality. Management said automation initiatives were also under way, but emphasised that employee cost was not the principal objective. It did not disclose a numerical target for material-variance reduction, a quality metric, capital expenditure or a timetable for rolling out AI at manufacturing sites.

Pidilite is also examining supply-chain use cases for reduced service response times and network optimisation. Management said several initiatives were under development, while acknowledging that it was not yet clear which pioneering use cases would take off first. This means the applications remain at a development and selection stage rather than being presented as a completed, company-wide operating rollout.

The supply-chain work accompanies a second-quarter reorganisation of the projects business. Pidilite moved from classifying projects as small, medium and large to a segment-based approach for medium and large residential and commercial builders, hotels, hospitals, education institutions and engineering, procurement and construction contractors. Management said the revised organisation produced some benefits in the second quarter and that these would continue to play out in the third quarter.

Will Pidilite cut jobs because of AI?

Pidilite said job reductions are not its objective in the current phase of AI adoption. Management said staff cost is not an objective by itself and that streamlined workflows should give employees richer jobs. The intended result is to grow with limited additions to manpower, allowing staff-cost operating leverage as the business expands rather than imposing immediate reductions in employee numbers.

Management placed productivity work in Phase 2, particularly for front-end roles and potentially manufacturing. The current phase covers content customisation, sales analytics, range selling, material-variance improvement, manufacturing quality, service response and network decisions. Pidilite did not provide a headcount target, expected job reduction, staff-cost objective, implementation deadline or quantified estimate of AI-led operating leverage.

This approach is being taken while management describes demand as reasonably robust. Pidilite said it had sustained double-digit underlying volume growth for about six to eight quarters, while Fevicol’s growth was about 50 to 100 basis points higher than its past rate. Management also cited growth from Roff, Dr. Fixit and Pidilite Projects Group, or PPG, in construction chemicals, supporting its preference to retain capacity for expansion.

How does the wider business environment shape the AI plan?

Pidilite’s AI focus is linked to a broader effort to create demand and deepen its product portfolio. Management said urban growth was slightly ahead of rural growth in the second quarter after rural growth had historically led. In construction chemicals, it said Dr. Fixit, Roff, grouts and Tenax had momentum, while tile adhesives were growing and Pidilite was growing faster than that category.

Pricing and input costs remain part of the operating context. Pidilite said it took price increases of about 12% to 15% in highly inflationary areas during the first quarter, followed by planned further increases of 3% to 5% in some areas in October. Management said the absolute value of cost increases had been passed on and more, but identified El Nino, elevated crude prices and a possible escalation in the West Asia conflict as effects not fully baked into its outlook.

Conclusion

Pidilite’s disclosed AI programme is primarily an effectiveness and quality initiative. Leadership workshops, company-wide hackathons, customised content, sales analytics, human-resources and finance exploration, material-variance work and supply-chain applications are aimed at improving how people and processes perform. Management’s position is that growth with limited manpower additions is preferable to immediate workforce reductions.

The next disclosures to watch are the second AI hackathon and the progress of manufacturing and supply-chain use cases that management said were still being developed. Management also expects the second-quarter projects-business reorganisation to continue contributing in the third quarter, while Roff and Dr. Fixit receive more brand activity and demand faces crude, weather and West Asia risks.