KANSAI NEROLAC PAINTS LIMITED (NSE: KANSAINER) Q3 2026 Earnings Call dated Feb. 04, 2026
Corporate Participants:
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari — Managing Director
Jason Gonsalves — Director of Corporate Planning, IT and Materials
Analysts:
Unidentified Participant
ANIRUDDHA JOSHI — Analyst
Avi Mehta — Analyst
Presentation:
operator
Ladies and gentlemen, good day and welcome to Kansai Narrow Lag paints Q3FY26 earnings conference call hosted by ICICI Securities Limited. As a reminder, all participants line will be in listen only mode and there will be an opportunity for you to ask questions after the presentation concludes. Should you need assistance during this conference call please signal an operator by pressing Star then zero on your touch tone phone. Please note that this conference is being recorded. I now hand the conference over to Mr. Aniruddha Joshi from ICICI Securities Ltd. Thank you. And over to you.
ANIRUDDHA JOSHI — Analyst
Yeah. Thanks Ikara. On behalf of ICICI securities we welcome you all to Q3FY26 and 9 months FY26 results conference call of Consign Aerolac Paints Ltd. We have with us today senior management represented by Mr. Praveen Chowdhury, Managing Director Mr. Yash Ahuja, Chief Financial Officer and Mr. Jason Gonsalves, Director Corporate Planning, IT and Materials. Now I hand over the call to the management for initial comments and then we will open the floor for question and answer session. Thanks and over to you Praveen Sir.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari — Managing Director
Yeah. Good morning all of you. I’ll request Jason to walk you through a brief presentation and the comments.
Jason Gonsalves — Director of Corporate Planning, IT and Materials
So good morning everyone and greetings to you. I am grateful for your continued support and interest in our company. Thanks for joining this investor call of Consign neuralac. I’ll begin by going through our presentation. One of the first slides is on the Nerolac purpose and vision. Our purpose is to create environments for a healthy and beautiful future and our vision is to design solutions that protect, inspire and touch lives every day. Kansai Narolac is a water positive company and is committed to reduction of emissions and improving the percentage of green energy used by the organization.
When it comes to our brand, our legacy is very strong. We have a hundred year old excellence model. Our robust strength lies in R and D capabilities and strategic technology partnerships. Especially in the industrial segment where we deliver continuously cutting edge solutions across diverse applications. Despite intense competition, our brand continues to command attention. We proudly hold the position of a second most recognized brand in terms of the brand equity index nationwide. Our Nerolag jingle which has been there for more than three decades also resonates across various age groups. I think that’s another asset that we have created and we are leveraging it pretty well.
Our spirit of innovation is deeply rooted in advanced Japanese technology which has been the driving force behind our industrial business. Looking ahead, this same technological edge will increasingly shape our decorative segment enabling us to continuously introduce breakthrough concepts that align with growing demand for premium products. A prime example of this was our PaintPlus range, an exclusive line of category defining products launched a few years ago offering Indian consumers a truly differentiated experience in decorative paint. Coming to the business environment during the quarter we saw a very good demand for automotive products fueled primarily by GST cuts, the continued focus of government on infrastructure.
Of course there was extended monsoon in the beginning of the quarter. This time the festive season was shorter because of an early Diwali. The quarter also saw a lot of geopolitical conflicts and tariff wars. Rupee was depreciated significantly in the quarter and crude price remained range bound. Coming to Business Highlights in Decorative among the key things that have happened during the quarter Paint plus group of products which we had launched today, their contribution to overall decorative business is greater than 10%. The project and institutional business has shown a double digit growth. We have been able to add 3500 dealers in our network as on December 25th our specialty stores that the Nerolac Next gen Shop in Shop and Nerolac plus paint zones.
Today the network is more than 600 plus. We have a strong double digit performance in construction, chemicals, waterproofing and premium wood finishes. Services have continued to grow and are contributing more than 5% to our overall decorative business and during the year we have launched 11 new products and new products contribution to decorative business remains pretty stable. Among the innovations that we have launched during this quarter is the XL Everlast 20, a product which offers 20 years performance having superior weather resistance including non fading of shades and waterproofing property as well as water based Excel Total Floor Code which is a product which offers excellent resistance to abrasion, algae resistance and resists hot tire marks especially designed for paver blocks and cement tiles.
In industrial in automotive four wheeler we have launched a BTX free metallic monocoat matte product for interiors of cars, a 1k common conductive primer having superior adhesion on multiple plastic suppression substrates. For the two wheeler industry we have developed a PU Mat metallic monocoat and we have implemented against the existing two coat system having superior properties of no color transfer and of petrol rub after zero hours of post baking and no gloss variation in broader workability band. For the commercial vehicle segment we introduced low bake Epoxy CD black which will help reduce the baking condition significantly.
In the performance coating liquid segment we have introduced low bake back coat and top coat for coil coating which has both been approved and commercially supplies have started. In the powder coating segment we have introduced high scratch resistance coatings especially designed in matte black and matte white variant. Coming to our media Campaigns Our Gharki Rona campaign was extensively run. Our iconic jingle modernized to resonate with today’s consumers while preserving its nostalgic charm. This refreshed sonic identity is already gaining traction, adding a vibrant new dimension to our promotional strategy and further strengthening our brand record. This is promoted on all major media platforms like TV during the Asia cup, radio, audio, digital videos, banners and social media influencers.
Coming to Branding and Marketing Our brand and marketing investments have remained strong with impactful campaigns running across both television and digital platforms. These efforts are designed to deepen consumer engagement and reinforce nerolac identity in the minds of our audience. Coming to Industrial Highlights in Automotive the auto segment witnessed very strong growth in Q3 fueled by GST 2.0 and there has been a strong focus on innovation and creating new technologies to increase total addressable market in performance coating. In the liquid segment we witnessed very strong demand in the general industrial segment driven primarily by construction equipment and pre engineered buildings.
In powder coating we were able to have a stable demand momentum driven by auto ancillaries, electrical appliances and furniture segment. In auto refinishes we witnessed a stable demand during the quarter. In the Premium PU segment we have had notable body shop wins and the conversion from solvent bone to waterborne systems is transitioning as per plan. We won a number of accolades during the year. The Dragons of Asia Marketing Award in Q2 25 we were the Gold winner in Ambient Media in Q1 25. The Goa Fest in Q1 25. 7 Baby Blue Elephant Awards we won significant awards from automotive majors like tafe, Maruti, Suzuki and Suzuki Motorcycle India Coming to the area of esg, KNP was rated in B category in Climate Change and Water Security in the CDP cycle 2025 and we were rated in the top 12 percentile within the chemical Industry group in the S and P Global Large and Medium Mid cap ESG Index 2025 in CSR.
Through our initiatives we remain deeply committed to driving positive change in the area of education, healthcare, women’s entrepreneurship and skill development. These efforts reflect our ongoing dedication to to giving back to society in meaningful and sustainable ways, empowering communities and fostering inclusive growth. Coming to our financial results for the quarter, our growth in net revenue was 3.5% for PBTIT it was 0.2 and PBT before exceptional items was minus 3.7 on a YTT basis. For standalone the net revenue grew by 1.9%. PBT is down by 3.2% and PBT before exceptional items is down by 4%. On a consolidated basis for quarter three, our net revenue is up by 3.1, PBDIT by 2% and PBT before exceptional items Is down by 3.7%.
For the nine months ending December our net revenue was up by 1.5%, PBDIT is down by 2.4% and PBT before exceptional items IS down by 3.1%. Coming to risk and Outlook among the significant risks that we see geopolitical tensions leading to supply chain disruptions and volatility in commodity prices, inflationary risks due to the tariff uncertainty and import cost surge due to rupee depreciation. Among Outlook as per rbi, construction activity would see a sustained momentum. Demand momentum generated by GST is expected to continue in quarter four, Automotive segment is expected to maintain growth momentum and growth in infrastructure such as railways, roads, airports, power augur well for the paint industry and will drive demand for high end coatings.
Thank you. This marks the end of the presentation. We will now take question answers.
Questions and Answers:
operator
Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press Star and one on their Touchstone telephone. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use handsets while asking a question. Ladies and gentlemen, we will wait for a moment while the question queue assembles. The first question is from the line of Avi Mehta from Macquarie Capital. Please go ahead.
Avi Mehta
Hi team, thanks for the opportunity. I wanted to kind of first check. With the decorative side. Could you give a sense on how the Momentum was in 3Q and what gives you comfort on the recovery. Also if you could cover, you know. If there’s any change in the competitive intensity, especially after the merger of Axonopil and gsw.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Hi Avi Devkui is concerned. October because of shorter duality obviously was not great. But what we saw as we run through this quarter we saw that November and December there was quite a good recovery. So we are seeing that there is a good growth momentum which is coming back now and we hope that continues in Q4 as well as we move into Q4 on competition intensity, your competition intensity still remains pretty intense and as far as this EXO and JSW is concerned, obviously as they stated, you know that royalty is what they’re going to pull back in the market to develop and you know obviously invest in either influencer or maybe depends on what they prioritize but that will remain to be seen.
As to how they deploy and what will be the effectiveness given their network. But obviously everyone is trying to protect their own market and try to grow. So I guess that intensity will continue to remain for some, some time now. Got it. Praveen, if I may, you know, just essentially on the, just closing on the other side, which is the industrial side. Now clearly your comments on the industrial side were a lot more, you know, constructive. Now if automotive is seeing the kind of growth it seen in decorative recovery where it is, how do you see the EBITDA margin profile in the near term for us and is there a risk on that 12 to 13% number that you had shared? We will target.
Right. So if you look at the kind of investments we are doing, either in terms of manpower, feet on street, our Influencer Connect programs, you have intensified. We are investing heavily in that. Whether it is architect, whether it is Painter, our CCD machine deployments have increased. We are now close to 85% of CCD machines are reaching that target and also very actively investing in our dealer opening. So if you look at on decorative front, we are obviously not letting ball fall and we are investing heavily in this area. Obviously, you know, given that, you know, even industrial has pretty good Runway as we see as far as quarter four is concerned with all that happening, you see that in quarter three, we still maintain our EBITDA guidance of 13%.
So I think we are very cautious of this and I think we maintain that. I think that is how it will be going forward. It will remain 30 to 14% is what we maintain even now, 13 to 14% guidance.
Avi Mehta
Okay.
Avi Mehta
And so last bit, on the industrial side, if you could kind of give, just give a sense on, you know, for just a reminder of how margins differ between industrial versus decorative qualitatively or any numbers over there and where do we stand versus pre Covid just to understand the work that has been done over there. That’s all from my side
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
right away. So while we’re not able to share breakup or exact number, but I can only tell you that pre Covid, I think our profiles have dramatically improved. And as far as our industrial margins are concerned, they have also improved.
And in fact, that is how we are able to also try to invest more as far as the credit is concerned and you know, main manage overall guidance.
Avi Mehta
Yeah. Okay. Okay, thank you very much. That’s all from my side.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Mihirshah from Nomura. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hi sir. Good morning. Thank you for taking my question. So my question is on the Staff cost. If I see entire last year and whatever we’ve seen of the past quarters of this year as well, the staff cost has remained elevated reserves the sales growth momentum that is there. I understand that you have been investing into higher staff cost, but then when do you expect the benefits of higher investments to start showing into the decorative volumes? Especially with the dealer reach increase and the feet on street increases that you have been doing seems to be higher than the industry average.
And I want to understand when are you expecting the investments to start yielding results? That’s my first question.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Thanks Meer. So yeah, you are right. I think investment is happening not only in decorative but also on industrial side, selectively in industrial, especially in the focus areas. And we are trying to expand our segmental play. As far as industrial concerned that is also called for some kind of investment in manpower. And obviously this allied manpower investment happens across the chain. As far as decred is concerned, our investment that we are doing on manpower is yielding result and we saw that in quarter three in terms of improvement in the performance metrics at town level. So I am sure that continued, you know, I’m sure that continued effort will start yielding greater result as we move forward.
Unidentified Participant
Understood. So secondly, if you can share some insights on how your older, older dealers, you know, has, you know, you’ve been able to hold up your older dealers and how that has changed with the cooperative intensity increasing. Is there a material churn that is there in the. Probably the tail end of your dealers that is there which is why there is an impact or there is no major churn in your dealer network and you are just keeping on building on two newer dealers on this.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
So churn is there every year. I mean what we have seen is percentage of churn has not changed at all. I think it remains same. And the good part is our weighted rich dealer, obviously we are able to retain and obviously at the same time acquiring new competition dealer which is normal phenomena industry that keeps happening. So there is no material change that I am seeing. Obviously it is the overall demand, environment and intensity that is being seen. That is what is resulting in obviously realigning of share at each counter. But that doesn’t mean that share losses is very different than what it has been in the past.
Unidentified Participant
Got it. That’s one thing to know. And so lastly I wanted to just check on the gross margin profile. Now third quarter, usually with the exterior pins kicking in have a higher margin profile. One would expect sequential improving in gross margins. But because your industrial and auto segments we can see the car production Numbers have been robust. Maybe because of the mix change that happened. You know, maybe the gross margins did not sequentially see an improvement. However, going forward with that normalizing and with the input cost remaining constant, is there a possibility for gross margins probably to etch up further from these levels?
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Yeah, you are right on. Mixed fund. Yeah, that’s the right observation. And going forward, I think if our geopolitical situation remains, that is as it is, and if improvements that are happening currently, if that continues, I’m sure you can see some change. But I don’t think there will be dramatic change that will happen. But. And historically for a quarter four of our efforts, the equity is concerned mix is also not favorable for us. So in a way I would say we would like to say that it will be at same level or marginally better, not significantly different as far as Q4 is concerned.
Unidentified Participant
Got it sir. Thank you. That’s all from my side. Wishing you all the way.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Runway from Asset C Mehta investment intermediaries. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hi sir. Thank you for the opportunity. I hope I am audible.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Yes.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, sir, I wanted to know a little bit on. So is the assumption correct that the deco revenue growth would still be in negative in this quarter?
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
I would say it is marginally negative to flat. That’s. That’s how it is.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, so in that case then industrial revenue would be slightly in the double digit range growth.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Yeah, about that. Touching double digit. Yes.
Unidentified Participant
Right. So within that. Can you just give some color because auto growth would be much higher in this quarter. Is that the right thing to assume?
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Sorry, can you come again?
Unidentified Participant
I mean within that 10% industrial growth, can you split it up between say auto and some of the other non auto segments?
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
That will be difficult to, you know, say that because we don’t give that breakup. You know, historically that has not happened.
Unidentified Participant
Yeah, okay. Okay, sir. All right, answer in the Q4 because in Q3 decorative revenue had an impact in the month of October. So March should ideally be a much better growth. Probably closer to mid single digit
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
as. Far as Q4 is concerned. Yeah, that’s our intent.
Unidentified Participant
Okay, sir. Alright, thank you.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Thank you.
operator
Thank you. Participants who wish to ask a question may press star and one at this time. The next question is from the line of Amnesh Agarwal, an individual investor. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello. Yeah, yeah, hi sir. Amnesh from PL Capital. I want to know what exactly is the trend in the volume growth both in decoratives as well as in the industrial and based on that, how does our market share stand now in comparison to what we were in the previous quarters?
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Yeah. So as far as market share is concerned, industrial we are able to grow market share and in terms of decorative it will be about same market share now as far as volume gap is concerned. Volume we have not been showing it anytime. So I don’t think I’m able to share that. But only thing I can tell you as far as depu is concerned, our volume and value gap is nil. We’re exactly at same level. I think that’s a positive change from the mix point of view and I think that is what we are trying to pursue.
So it is important for us to ensure that a premium segment grows which have done very well in quarter three. So I think that’s the direction we would like to take going forward as far as deco is concerned. And as far as industrial concerned, I think typically we look at really value because that what matters when you look at the high end products. I think value matters more than volume. And there also we are I think as we see things, I think we are done pretty well as far as overall industrial is concerned from volume perspective as well.
Unidentified Participant
Okay sir, I just wanted to understand how is the decorative volumes are going for Kansai and for industrial. Because if I look at say market leader or any other player, everyone is today having say your putty construction, chemical and waterproofing for everyone, it is growing in double digits. So even after that if the volumes are say in the low single digit to mid single digit for most players. Okay, so then how is the actually if I look at pure paints volumes, how is that volume going for the industry and for consumer?
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
So frankly, because what is industry details are not available at mix level. But I guess your observations right. The volume value gap obviously is signified by poor mix. And second thing is higher discounting in the existing range. Both are the components and I think in some con call they have, they must have shared this. But as far as we are concerned, obviously Patti is pretty easy. You can always dump it at a higher discount but it is not obviously making great margins. So consciously we are not playing that. So as far as my important towns are concerned, my strong areas are concerned.
Obviously I might put it as a package but that is not what we are using as an entry point in some other areas. So that’s as far as we are concerned. I think it is important for us to focus on the product mix and looking at the premium nature and premium improvement as far as we are concerned.
Unidentified Participant
Okay sir, thanks A lot. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Tejas Shah from aventuspark Institutional Equities. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hi sir, thanks for the opportunity. So you called out that competitive intensity is still very high. Just wanted to understand is, is it increasing or is it kind of staying the same A and B? In what facet of business is it kind of surfacing the more in the sense is it more discounts at dealer level or customer level or even at resource level on the back end, be it on human resource or raw material, securing raw material which all facets we are seeing this competitive intensity there.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Yeah, Tejas, I think intensity is there across manpower deployment has happened long time. I think that that remains elevated. So across industry as far as discounts are concerned, obviously they have also increased but they are now at similar level. There’s no immediate reduction that you have seen as far as Q3 is concerned. Obviously there have been some price adjustments which was announced by competition, a very marginal 1, 2 to 3%. But that I don’t think is also aimed to obviously try to adjust some bit of discount. I think it’s a slow, I mean direction suggests that at least as of now ending Q3 we have not seen any change in the intensity on all the front that you mentioned.
Whether it is influencer, whether it is dealer discounting or investment in the manpower that all continues as far as decorative is concerned.
Unidentified Participant
And sir, the new entrant has also launched this EMI scheme which has actually hit the dealer level as well. So we have picked up that it is very much in execution as well. So just wanted to know your thoughts. Is it a tool that we like to use in future to recruit customers or you believe that that doesn’t move the needle and hence shouldn’t be kind of triggered?
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
I think the initial euphoria in terms of any new scheme will be there. But having seen the industry, I think it will be very difficult for this to sustain at a scale that it will demand. I think there are other players in similar industry have tried setting up fund, you know, to finance but I don’t think it has gone anywhere. So I think we’ll have to wait and watch, I think how that progresses. But as of now our belief is that it should not. I mean scaling will be a problem but we’ll, we’ll wait and watch how things go.
Unidentified Participant
Thanks. So that’s all from my side.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Thanks teacher.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Kur Pandya from ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. Please go Ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Thank you. Two questions. So first on the industry growth, I mean looking at the overall growth for the listed players it seems that as earlier participants participant highlighted that over paint growth is either low or no growth. Now are you able to assign any reason or are you seeing any change in trend after say all the fiscal and monetary efforts from the government? So that is first question and second question on your growth. So overall revenue growth into low single digit. At the same time you are highlighting that industrial and automotive have done well. Does that mean that your decorative has degrown in value terms? And why I’m asking is that because Asian paint JV for auto industrial both are going and say either in high single digit or double digit for last two or three quarters which suggests that they have gained share.
So which of the segment is. I mean in which of these segments decorative industry are you losing here? If so so just clarification on that. Thank you.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
I think it depends on what you look at. I think as I mentioned earlier as far as decorative is concerned we are. Our volume and value gap is almost zero. That suggests that you know our focus on really selling quality or you know, mix. Mix is very important for us. So there’s other products, you know which are I would say low margin products like Patti and there are some other products which obviously they are in the industry and which is getting pushed. We are trying to cautiously be away from that segment and that is what is resulting into this.
So it depends on how you look at market share. I think what we are really concerned about is our future, I would say growth projections and maintaining profitability or improving profitability going forward. That will happen only if we try to invest in the quality of quality of mix. So that is as far as decredive is concerned. On industrial. Yes, again same thing. We are looking at, you know, premiumizing our portfolio and focusing on the profitability and investing systematically to build that as a result. Obviously you know, if we look at segmental wise there is no loss of share at all.
All that might have happened is there is a segment which is. We are not representing, for example Marine. We are not there in the marine at all because of a global arrangement. We are not. We can’t play in India. So that is how there are such segments where we don’t play. Obviously if there is a growth in that area one can say that as an industry there might be share realignment. But as far as our segment plays concerned there is no share loss at all.
Unidentified Participant
Just first question of any green shoots on industry growth. So core paint Seem to be either not growing or growing and at very low single digit. Are you seeing any green shoots? I mean earlier we used to have so just core like to like products. What were their say five, six years back? I mean with no much large inflation or no large price cuts, there shouldn’t be any value volume mismatch for those category of products except for discounting now they used to grow in I’d say high single digit value terms or low double digit in value terms as well as volume terms.
Are you seeing any signs that industry is going back to those times or at least improving from where it is for last a couple of years?
Jason Gonsalves
So Kur, as far as movement from let’s say quarter one to quarter two to quarter three is concerned, definitely in quarter three after Diwali, November and December we have seen changes happening in the demand pattern and we have seen the recovery in core paint as well. So that is what you have seen and we are hoping that that will continue in quarter four. Also in the core paint category which is basically emulsion, enamel and distempers and whatever it is. So that is how it will continue as that is what we believe in. Going back to a question of whether we will see and when we see that equal to GDP or more.
I think that we are also really hoping that that day should come soon. But looking at the changes that are happening and our discretionary nature of our industry, painting cycles, all that is also contributing to this. But hopefully there’ll be someday into this because people, I mean ultimately one has to paint their house, right? So but I don’t know with which quarter, which year that will happen.
Unidentified Participant
Understood sir. So thanks a lot. All the best. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Aniruddha Joshi from ICICI Securities. Please go ahead.
ANIRUDDHA JOSHI
Yeah. Sir, one question on long term industry growth rates. So if we look at compared to 2015 the efforts to drive the growth that is the entire ad spend done by all the four major. The initiatives in distribution expansion, the trade sprints, the new product launches. Compared to that we have seen there is a material increase in the efforts to drive the industry growth in terms of over past 10 years like one, there are multiple number of new players have entered the ad spend in the industry, the new product launches, trade spends, everything has gone up.
Now despite that the industry has kind of slowed down. So is it fair to assume that probably the penetration level in India and the per capita consumption etc have reached to a decent level and here on the industry growth rates may structurally be Lower. The way we have seen it in case of lot of other industries like toothpaste or hair oil or even soaps or detergent etc where the penetration levels have gone up to a very high level. So expecting a very high growth in those industries sustainably is difficult. So do you think that stage has reached for paint sector as well?
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
So Anjiruddh, I don’t think so, that I’ve reached because I mean we are still about one third of global average. And given the prosperity and all that is happening as far as India is concerned and per capita income increasing, I am sure our ability to spend more on the premium products will increase. So what I foresee is like this, that volume per se will actually change. I mean in the mix part will change. So all the products that we today call a decorative, I think slowly and gradually that will get shifted to pure play emulsion which is what globally I mean exist.
They don’t have these so many categories. It’s a basically emulsion paint which is called as a decorative paint. So that is likely to happen as we go forward. Which essentially also means that you know my per kg price will increase. I think that is where the growth in value term will start coming going forward. So as far as growth future is concerned, I think industry is pretty secured. I think there is a big Runway available for this industry to grow. And probably that is one of the reason why there are so many players who are interested in entering this industry.
Because they see that there is a growth Runway available and there is a premiumness also possibility exists if things are executed well on the ground.
ANIRUDDHA JOSHI
Okay, sure sir. Understood. And sir, second and last question now commodity prices are a bit lower. We have seen contrasting actions. EXO has cut prices whereas Birla Opus has raised prices. So how do you see the pricing trend to emerge in the industry and what will be concise actions on that? Yeah, that’s it from my side. Thanks Anil.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
So as far as prices are concerned I think they’re very stable. And as of now I don’t think there is any need to really substantially change the prices. That is what our view is. Unless there are some different actions which are taken in the market. The price change that you’ve seen in the industry about agro or Opus Birla Opus is not very significant. 2%, 3% I know don’t think is going to really change much as far as industry is concerned. As such, Opus was lower by 5%. So they are correcting it. I guess so. I don’t think it has Any material change or impact that is going to be seen.
ANIRUDDHA JOSHI
Okay, sure sir. Thanks. Thank you.
operator
Thank you. The next question is from the line of Ajay Thakur from Khan and Rati securities. Please go ahead.
Unidentified Participant
Hello. Yeah, thanks for taking my question. So I have two questions. One, I wanted to understand more on the trend that you indicated of no volume value gap which has actually reduced for you. How, how has it been kind of narrowing over the last maybe few quarters and what are your expectations going forward? Are you likely to you know, kind of maintain this kind of a, you know, flattish kind of a volume value gap or you expect this to you know again inch up going ahead?
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Yeah, our intent is to actually have it at same level which, which obviously means, you know, our quality of mix is better though, you know, while I’m that is our endeavor but obviously Quadrant quadrant it keeps changing because mix are very different. So I would say I don’t recall now what is what was our Q1, Q2 but Q4 also intent is that only that all to focus on the mix. But there might be slight change because of you know a different mix profile compared to last year. So that might play out but it won’t be very large.
Unidentified Participant
The second was you elaborate. You know, you kind of, you know did indicate about the recovery in the prior quarter more in October, November, December, gradually. But can you just also throw some more light in terms of you know, the, the sustainability of this recovery and also know how you see in terms of cyclical recovery because you know there’s a lot of talk happening in the industry about cyclical recovery of the pain sector. If can throw some more light on that part, you know, how what is the confidence of this kind of a growth sustaining or you know, kind of accelerating going ahead.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Yeah, so I think as we entered quarter four we have seen that sign of some recovery. So that gives us confidence, you know, that quarter four should also be better.
Unidentified Participant
Understood and but is it likely to kind of improve from here on any sense on that or how stronger can we expect? Because still if you look at the industry growth it is still, you know, kind of subdued in that context.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
So that is right. You know. Ajay Bhav what is happening if you look at total industry which includes all the new players also which figures are very difficult, those are not available except top five. But I think as a industry unorganized, organized, our sense is that industry still has grown. I think it is not that industry itself is 70 80,000 crore industry would have certainly grown by if not GDP about GDP but what happened is there are so many players who are coming in and putting in their bit in each state. Obviously that is resulting into not knowing exactly a total impact on our quantify and reconcile impact on top four.
I mean, that is what is happening. So as far as industry growth momentum is concerned, future is very secure, I think this short term. So I think resilience will be called for. And I think we are all trying to protect our own turf. And I think given that situation, I am sure things should turn out better. And hopefully we will reach that as an industry and as of all players that those are listed will able to show closer to GDP number once this settles.
Unidentified Participant
Understood. Last question from my side was more on the background integration we have seeing, you know, that large players are undertaking backward integration. Given the fact that, you know that will help in terms of no better margin for them. How do you perceive this? Given the fact that, you know, for a player such as us, you know, can it lead to further, you know, impact on in terms of the competition? Because, you know, they might pass on this benefit in terms of the margin benefit to either customers or to the trade and thereby, you know, kind of, you know, trying to gain further on the margin side of it.
So is that, you know something how you perceive it or how do you want to, you know, look at it in terms of going forward and do you also have, you know, certain plans in terms of, you know, executing some of this backward integration projects so that, you know, you also gain that edge in terms of the margins? Yeah, that’s it from my side. Thank you.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Backward integration is a strategy which has to support either your absolute niche play or you know, scale. I think these are the two aspects. So as far as scale is concerned right now we evaluate based on that. So wherever we think that scale will support in terms of being more competitive, definitely we invest. Likewise we invested on. As far as industrial concerned, we are completely backward integrated on our major categories because we lead there. And obviously we introduce lot of niche and high end technologies for our customer. Obviously that we need that kind of backward integration to be competitive as well as to control quality and technology of that product.
So that is as far as industrial concerned. In decorative also we have, we have backward integrated as far as emulsions are concerned. For last 10 to 15 years we are doing that. And that again is not being used really to produce a commodity product. I think that is used to produce very niche and unique to category product that we introduce offering unique benefits. That kind of product. We try to, you know, make it There and you know, try to use that in a product. So it depends on what strategy we are going to pursue. If I am going to put something in economy segment using scale and if I am then trying to pass it on to market I do not think, you know I’ll able to improve my margin.
Basically I have reduced the price and I’ve set off everything that is what is likely to happen. So I don’t know what is the aim but as far as we are concerned we evaluate this is our requirements and definitely whenever need be either to protect our competitiveness or to introduce high end products and premiumization and we decide on the backward integration investment.
Unidentified Participant
Understood. Quite helpful. Thank you sir.
operator
Thank you. Anyone who wishes to ask a question, you may press Star and one. To ask a question you may press Star and one. Now we have a follow up question from the line of Avi Mehta from Macquarie Capital. Please go ahead.
Avi Mehta
Yeah, hi sir. I just wanted to get some color on the businesses and Euroseek.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Yeah, so Neurofix is doing pretty well, growing at double digit higher double digit I would say and that is also because of our play as far as retail is concerned as well as on industrial side they have increased their play on the segments so that is going pretty well. On profitability also they have improved significantly and I think that fantastic work that has happened as far as Neurofix is concerned on Nepal also continues to do very well and I think that situation slight disturbance was there that is now passing and I think things have started recurring.
So overall I think subsidiaries are also in pretty good shape I would say and for Bangladesh and Sri Lanka anything to call out Bangladesh Bangladesh is still under stress. Okay. That I don’t think when frankly every quarter we try to assess the situation but with this election around the corner and I don’t know post election what happens but situation remains difficult as far as Bangladesh is concerned for us and as far as Lanka is concerned we exited that so. Oh sorry. Yeah, right. Thank you.
operator
Thank you ladies and gentlemen. That was the last question. I would now like to hand the conference over to the management for closing comments. Over to you sir.
Pravin Digambar Chaudhari
Yeah. Thank you so much for attending and showing interest in our company. I think our endeavor is to obviously maintain overall top lane good growth as well as profitability guidance that is given and we hope to see you in month of May for our quarter four and year end investor briefing. Thank you so much.
operator
On behalf of ICICI securities limited that concludes this conference. Thank you for joining us. And you may now disconnect your lines.