We will pass on the full 10% GST cut to consumers: Abhijit Roy, Berger Paints

Together with a good monsoon, the GST rate cut is likely to boost demand for the paints industry, Abhijit Roy, MD & CEO, Berger Paints, tells ET Now.

Edited excerpts:

How has life changed for Berger Paints now that the GST rates have been reduced to 18%?

We have been asking for the GST reduction for quite some time now. The government at last found that there is no great revenue loss from this move. The volumes will definitely increase as is expected because the cut is substantial from 28% to 18%. Therefore, it is likely to boost the volume growth of the entire paint category. The rains have so far been reasonably good. Together, it should bode well for the paint industry.

But the other parameter has been RMC cost and, crude spiralling up. You have not seen any benefit or ease off coming in there. Would you say that the pricing scenario for paint companies at large would not really change and you would not really be able to pass on this benefit of GST reduction to the consumers?


That is not the case. We will pass on the full benefit of GST because we have been asking for this and we cannot now say that we will have retain part of the profit giving the excuse of raw material price increase. In case we need to take up prices later, with the RMC prices going up we will do that but as of now we will pass on the full benefit to the consumers.

The entire 10%?

Full 10%.