Asian Paints: Can Legacy Outlast Disruption?

Subba Lakshmi Prabha, Bhavika Bali, Arup Majumdar, Sakshi Singh

Product #:W46204

Supplier:Ivey

Discipline:General Management, Strategy

Setting:India, 2025

Details:Case (PDF) • 18 pages • 2025-11-25

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In 2025, India’s largest paint company, Asian Paints Limited (Asian Paints), faced a serious threat. Birla Opus, a new entrant backed by the deep-pocketed Aditya Birla Group, had made its presence felt in the market. Within a year, Opus ate into Asian Paints’ market share and strong dealership network with its price warfare, high dealer incentives, and bold marketing. This case challenges students to examine the choices chief executive officer and managing director Amit Syngle faced: engage in a price war or protect premium positioning, change dealer strategy or maintain margin discipline, and maintain brand identity or reposition to retain relevance in a changing market.

Learning Objectives

The case is relevant for strategy and marketing courses in undergraduate programs and post-graduate and executive business administration programs. After working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to do the following:

Understand the competitive dynamics and growth structure of the Indian paint industry.
Understand the pricing and channel strategies deployed in low-frequency purchase categories such as decorative paints.
Examine the threats posed by capital-intensive, aggressive market entrants.
Evaluate the trade-offs between protecting market share and sustaining profitability in response to disruptive competition.
Suggest strategies to protect brand value along with short-term market defense in mature markets.

Asian Paints: Can Legacy Outlast Disruption?

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Learning Objectives