MAM
Local paint industry looking at bright future: Kamdhenu Paint’s Saurabh Agarwal
NEW DELHI: The Indian paint idustry, pegged at Rs 50,000 crore in total value, is coping with tough times these days, consequent to the extended lockdown condition and interrupted economic activities in the country. According to Kamdhenu Paints director Saurabh Agarwal, the prospect for the industry is not going to be good for the current year.
“The pandemic and lockdown conditions enforced throughout the country has caused significant problems to local businesses having to maintain their fixed expense such as salary payments to their staffs, rental obligations of shops or offices etc. Further, local business is also looking at a massive shortage in the availability of labour in the markets as migrant workers have left the cities and head to their home towns,” he told Indiantelevision.com.
However, Agarwal believes that the industry is looking at a bright future ahead as there will be tremendous growth prospect for all Indian paint companies, courtesy the ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign, initiated by the Indian government.
He told Indiantelevision.com that the paint industry is greatly dominated by Indian players. “Domestic brands have a market share of about 75 per cent to 80 per cent of the paints industry while the rest is made up by international companies operating in the country. The promotion of the ‘Vocal for Local’ campaign will have a positive impact on Indian paint companies as branded customers will now be focusing on domestic companies rather than going for products of international players.”
The brand has taken extensively to raise the support and awareness towards the motto of popularising local brands in India. It also launched a new social media campaign to amplify the message of buying local and self-reliance.
Agarwal shared, “The main idea behind the various social media campaigns that we undertake is to support the call made by our PM. It is a good opportunity for all Indian industry to come forward and support this campaign. It is also our moral duty to encourage our fellow countrymen to buy only 'Made in India' products.”
He showed confidence in the fact that with such campaigns, Kamdhenu Paints will be able to add new consumers to its portfolio.
Elaborating more on the consumer behaviour towards the local brands, Agarwal quipped, “Consumer buying behaviour can be broadly categorised into two. One category is the brand-conscious buyer that will only buy brand names and the other is the price-conscious buyer who will buy products that give him the biggest bang for the buck. By adopting better standards in the manufacturing process local brands can produce competitive products with quality that are at par with the best. Improving quality in production by local brands can attract both the brand-conscious buyer and the price-conscious buyer as high-quality local brands will be available to consumers at very economical prices which suits their pocket.”
Agarwal also praised the government support, which has been extended in the past few weeks. “The government has announced a very good package for the economy. I am sure it will have a positive impact on economic recovery as we come out of the lockdown restrictions. The result may however not be visible instantly as the impact of the initiative will take some time to percolate through.”
However, he also feels that as we emerge from the shadows of the lockdown and the economy slowly begins to pick up, the government needs to do more as this is not a one-shot cure and more needs to be done to prop up the economy.
He concluded, “The government can look at giving some relaxations in tax slab that can help cushion everyone from the impact of the pandemic. They might consider giving some relaxation in tax slab for all individual, an interest waiver for full-year on EMI of all types of loans, direct benefit transfer of some amount directly to low salary workers in both organised and unorganised sector, compensation of rent for all low-class employee or migrant labourers and arrangement of shelter homes for all migrant workers with provision for food and stay facilities.”
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Abhay Duggal joins JioStar as director of Hindi GEC ad sales
The streaming giant brings in a seasoned revenue hand as the battle for Hindi television advertising heats up
MUMBAI: Abhay Duggal has a new desk, and JioStar has a new weapon. The media and entertainment veteran has joined JioStar as director of entertainment ad sales for Hindi general entertainment channels, adding 17 years of hard-won revenue experience to one of India’s most powerful broadcasting operations.
Duggal is no stranger to big portfolios or bruising markets. Before joining JioStar, he spent a brief stint at Republic World as deputy general manager and north regional head for ad sales. Before that, he put in three years at Enterr10 Television, where he ran the north region for Dangal TV and Dangal 2, two of India’s leading free-to-air Hindi channels. The north alone accounted for more than 50 per cent of total channel revenue on his watch, a number that tends to get attention in any sales meeting.
His longest stint was at Zee Entertainment Enterprises, where he spent over six years rising to associate director of sales. There he commanded the Hindi movies cluster across seven channels, owned more than half of north India’s revenue across flagship properties including Zee TV and &TV, and closed marquee sponsorships across the Indian Premier League, Zee Rishtey Awards and Dance India Dance. He also handled monetisation for the English movies and entertainment cluster and the global news channel WION, a portfolio that would stretch most sales teams twice his size.
Earlier in his career Duggal closed what was then a Rs 3 crore single deal at Reliance Broadcast Network, one of the largest in Indian radio at the time, before that he helped launch and monetise JAINHITS, India’s first HITS-based cable and satellite platform.
His edge, by his own account, lies in marrying data and instinct: translating audience trends, inventory signals and client demands into long-term partnerships built on cost-per-rating-point discipline rather than short-term deal chasing. In a media landscape being reshaped by streaming, fragmented attention and AI-driven advertising, that kind of rigour is increasingly rare and increasingly valuable.
JioStar, which blends the scale of Reliance’s Jio platform with the content firepower of Star, is doubling down on its advertising business at precisely the moment the Hindi GEC market is getting more competitive. Bringing in someone who has spent nearly two decades doing exactly this, across some of India’s most watched channels, is a pointed statement of intent. Duggal has spent his career turning audiences into revenue. JioStar is clearly betting he can do it again, and bigger.
