Berger Paints
Berger Paints India Ltd is an Indian multinational paint company, based in Kolkata. This company has 16 manufacturing units in India, 2 in Nepal, and 1 each in Poland, Russia and Pakistan. It has manufacturing units at Howrah, Rishra, Arinso, Taloja, Naltoli, Goa, Devla, Hindupur, Jejuri, Jammu, Puducherry and Anand. The company has presence in six countries – India, Pakistan, Russia, Poland, Nepal and Bangladesh. It has an employee strength of over 3,600 and a countrywide distribution network of more than 25,000 dealers.
History
European
In 1760, Louis Berger started a dye and pigment manufacturing business in England, which later changed to Louis Berger & Sons Limited. In 1770, Louis Steigenberger shifted from Frankfurt to London to sell a Prussian blue colour, which was made using his own formula. He perfected this process & art of the blue colour, which was the colour of most military uniforms of that time. He then changed his name to Lewis Berger. By 1870, Berger Paints was selling 19 different pigments such as black lead, sulphur, sealing wax and mustard. After his death, his sons took over the business. In the UK, the company, which by then was known as Berger, Jenson and Nicholson, was acquired by Hoechst AG in 1970 and by Williams Holdings in 1988.Indian subcontinent
On 17 December 1923, Mr. Hadfield set up Hadfield's Ltd., a small paint company in Calcutta. Towards the end of 1947, British Paints acquired Hadfield's Ltd and thus British Paints Ltd was incorporated in the State of West Bengal. In 1951, sales offices were opened in Delhi and Bombay and a depot was started in Guwahati. In 1969, Berger Jenson Nicholson Limited, UK bought British Paints Ltd. This marked the beginning of Lewis Berger's legacy in India. In the year 1973, D. Madhukar took over as the managing director. Sales figures reached over 16 crore by 1978. The 80s, and the 90s, saw the launch of many new products such as emulsions and distempers. In 1991, UB Group sold the company to Kuldip Singh Dhingra, a shopkeeper from Amritsar, and Gurbachan Singh Dhingra. Subir Bose took over as managing director on 1 July 1994. Bose retired on 30 June 2012, handing over the company to Abhijit Roy, the current managing director.In March 2013, Berger Paints acquired Mumbai-based architectural paints division of Sherwin-Williams. In 2021, Berger Paints set up their plant in Sandila, Uttar Pradesh.