Dubai: Nippon Paint India has worked out a strategic plan that will see it expand its base in the Middle East to strengthen the brand and add to the market share. Currently, the company has an office and warehouse in the UAE and has signed up with 50 local retailers. The intention is to “accelerate” its presence to other countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
The company has signed up a major governmental contract for bus manufacturing in the region. Nippon Paint is the largest coatings company in Asia-Pacific and fourth largest in the world. It operates in over 25 countries through the 70 plus companies that make up the group.
“The Middle East is a high potential market with good taste for quality brands - we believe that our portfolio of products will find a good placement here,” said Sharad Malhotra, Sr. VP NIPSEA Group and Director, Nippon Paint Middle East FZE – Automotive Refinishes & Wood Coatings. It will commence with auto refinishing paints and expand in other areas like coil and wood coatings, light industrial coatings, etc. The company will have a special focus on polyurethane (PU) coatings.
According to Malhotra, COVID-19 played an “instrumental role” in the expansion. It expanded the company’s focus from coatings to total painting solutions, and accelerated the pace of development of products while changing the development priorities.
“The Middle East is a relatively new market, but we expect to have strong market representation in all major GCC markets by the end of the year,” he added. “This representation will cover both the retail and key accounts business that we will develop in the automotive aftermarket, commercial vehicle and light industrial segment. By the end of the year, we will have customers in triple digits in the region as a whole. This is the short-term goal we are working on.”
