Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This is R.J. Jeyamurugan, CFO & CS from Asian Paints. At the outset, we apologize for the delay in beginning the conference. We are thanking you all for coming to this meeting at a very short notice. We announced two major acquisition today. We thought it is appropriate to connect and discuss with you to give some details so that it makes maybe the thing clear. Hence, we arranged this call. A disclaimer before we get into the discussion. On this call, we will not be discussing anything about quarterly numbers or company performance, as we are in the silent period for the announcement of Q4 and the twelve-monthly results. Please restrict your questions only for the two acquisition we announced today.
Along with me, we have today Mr. Amit Syngle, our MD and CEO. I also have Mr. Parag Rane, GM Finance, and Arun Nair from Corporate Communications. We will begin by giving a short profile. While we have given all the details in today's public domain communication, and also we have given the press release. Just to give you a brief, we announced two acquisition. One is 49% stake in White Teak, a decorative lighting products and furnishings company. Basically, we are taking 49% stake from this year for a consideration of approximately INR 180 crores. Along with a certain amount to be payable based on the achievement of certain financial milestones by the end of the financial year.
We are intending to acquire another 51% over a period of three years, next three years, subject to achievement of certain financial milestones, which I think we have given much more in detail in the press release and the stock exchange announcement. I don't want to repeat because of the shortage of time. Basically about this company, it's a private limited company. It was established in 2016 by Silicon Valley tech entrepreneurs, Mr. Pawan Mehta and Mr. Gagan Mehta. They have been maybe running this business, and they have actually put up a strong platform offering customers an extensive range of decorative lighting products and the brands. There are stores also across the network, across the country in key urban cities.
We thought all of you are aware, we have a vision of becoming the most inspirational home decor brand. This helps us in partnering with the, maybe the powerful, kind of, brand, extending our, the current platform in a much more stronger way. Maybe I will ask Parag to explain something about the other, acquisition, which is Weatherseal.
Yeah. Good evening, everyone. Just a small brief in terms of the second acquisition that we have announced today, which is about acquiring a 51% stake in the first stage by subscribing to fresh equity issuance by a company called Weatherseal Fenestration Private Limited. This is a newly established entity established by their promoters in March 2022. The promoters are Mr. Harish Munireddy and Miss Pratibha. They have been in this line of business, which is in the business of UPVC windows and door systems for the past seven years through a LLP company, through LLP. They would be undertaking this business in the UPVC windows and doors space through this newly established entity, which is Weatherseal Fenestration Private Limited.
Asian Paints would subscribe to 15% of the share capital, depending on conditions precedent, which needs to be closed over the next few days. It has also agreed that over a period of next three years, it would acquire an additional 23.9% stake from the existing set of promoters. The valuation for which would depend on achievement of certain milestones. As an entity or as a business, it's primarily in the UPVC windows and door systems. Where Weatherseal promoters what they have done over the last seven years is they have built a very strong tech-enabled platform that has enabled them to deliver a very seamless customer experience across B2B as well as retail customers.
They have primarily established the Weatherseal brand as a strong brand in this space in South India. That's a small brief about Weatherseal. Thanks.
Requesting participants, maybe we can take question and answers.
Sorry, just to kind of add to what Mr. Jai and Parag has just said. One of the big things which I wanted to announce is that all of you are aware that we have been talking about our home decor foray in the last two to three years very, very strongly. Especially in the last two years, we have announced this whole area of the movement from share of surface to the share of space within the home. We have felt that, you know, today we are dealing with the same customer. Asian Paints, as we kind of go ahead, want to kind of really influence the customer during the entire life cycle of the home purchase. As part of that, we have been kind of getting into stronger categories.
As you have seen, whether it is kitchen, whether it is bath, whether it is in terms of other categories, like fabrics and furnishing, we have been making forays very strongly so that we own up to these categories in a very strong way. The current initiatives which you see. One is in the form of the White Teak, which you are seeing, which is the whole decorative lighting space. The other area on Weatherseal, which Parag just spoke of, which is in the uPVC doors and windows space. I think the very strong forays which we have introduced, so that, in our purpose in terms of taking the whole journey of the share of space, it is something which is very, very strong.
I would also like to tell you that we feel that the whole home decor business is literally adding to the core business in a very strong way. Because we are looking at catering to the same consumer who's kind of looking at doing the home, but connecting with the same consumer during various cycles of home renovation and home purchase. Therefore, what we see is that this entire foray in terms of home decor is contiguous to our overall strategy in terms of not only adding to the core business, but also kind of really making our mark in the whole area of share of space, so that we can be with the customer in the whole area of customer life cycle of home renovation and home purchase.
I thought I'll just add that point of view so that you get a better understanding as to what is the purpose in terms of these acquisitions for the moment. We would like to open the floor for people to ask questions now.
Thank you, sir. Requesting all participants who have joined to please use the Raise Hand feature to ask a question to the panelist. Kindly unmute when given a chance to ask a question. Please say your name and company name before you ask the questions. Kindly restrict the questions to only two due to the time constraints. Participants on Zoom call can also pose their questions on the chat box feature on the bottom panel. Our first participant is Mr. Abneesh Roy from Edelweiss. Sir, request you to please unmute your mic and ask the question.
Yeah. Thanks and congrats on both the acquisition. If I see Ess Ess and Sleek, those were acquired around six, seven years back, and currently you are doing a top line of around INR 200 crore put together, so around 2.5% of your sales. My question for these two new acquisition is, will the integration be similar to what you have done in Sleek and Ess Ess? Second, in terms of positioning, is it slightly niche, slightly more premium? Because fans and lights, if you see, is extremely commoditized and extremely competitive. Similarly, if you could explain the total market size in Weatherseal, because that product seems to be very different and very new for a paint company. If you could address these two, three questions.
Thanks, Abneesh. See, if you look at the entire area of kitchen and bath today, I think last two years have been very, very strong. Today, if you look at the combined businesses, they are more than INR 500 crores in terms of what we see in terms of going. What we see is, going forward, these businesses will be close to more than INR 2,500 crores in the next about three, four years, given the trajectory in terms of what we are taking in terms of going ahead. What we see today is that it is not only that we want to further the kitchen and bath business, but also in terms of other categories which are essential in the home space.
Yes, lighting is a regular category which you see, which is the decorative lighting in terms of the Weatherseal, which we are seeing. Over a period of time, we see that, the doors and windows, which is the, you know, the whole area of, balconies and overall doors which are coming in terms of all, flats and, bungalows, I think is becoming a very, very strong category. It is a category which is almost about INR 11,000 crore, and a category which is very strong with respect to both the retail and the B2B space in a very strong manner.
We feel that Asian Paints with its kind of foray has very strong distribution points where we are able to kind of add to the retail business, as well as we have our institutional business, where we are able to reach out to the builders in a very, very strong manner, where we would be able to kind of propagate the whole areas of doors and windows in terms of the new homes in a very, very strong way to that extent. In addition, we have a ColourPro business which is reaching out to the architects and interior designers. In the home renovation business, what we are seeing is that the modern technology of the uPVC doors and windows which they are coming for the balconies and for the French windows and bungalows and so on, so forth, is the latest technology.
We think it's a very, very growing area and therefore that is where the justification of the Weatherseal comes in. Because you are talking of uPVC profiling, and not only that, we are talking of coatings which will go over uPVC, which would be in the zone very close to the coatings area in terms of powder coatings and specialized coatings which will go for uPVC, where we can offer customer a range of choices both from the point of view of textures as well as various kind of finishes which can come in, which can kind of really accentuate the overall décor of the home or the bungalows in a very, very strong way. We think that these are categories which are very integral to the overall area of home renovation and new homes in a very, very strong way.
There is where we are justifying taking the Weatherseal, which is at a nascent stage. We think this entire industry, which is quite big, is dominated by the unorganized sector, where Asian Paints would like to kind of come in and make a strong statement in terms of what we can bring to the consumer in terms of both innovation as well as in terms of the area of really expanding the reach and the footprint of taking doors and windows into home spaces in a very big way.
Thank you. Our next caller is Mr. Avi Mehta. Sir, I request you to please switch on your mic to ask a question.
Hi. Hi, sir. Am I audible?
Yes.
Sir, thanks for the opportunity. Sir, we have paid almost 20x FY 2021 sales for the White Teak acquisition. Could you please help us appreciate the growth opportunities and synergies you see in this venture, which makes you confident on deriving value from this acquisition? I mean, especially given the relatively smaller size of the category and the premium pricing of the product. My second question, sir, was... Okay, I'll ask the second question later, sir, if you could help.
If you look at the overall opportunity in terms of decorative lighting, the segment is really fairly big. We think about INR 1,200 crores as what we estimate, and a segment which is growing at almost about 15%-20% in the market to that extent. What we see very clearly is that the CAGR to the current sales, which we put as definitely in the area of about 20%-25% going forward. We think today the current business is what comes in with rich profitability in terms of what we can really make out of it to that extent at the current levels.
Therefore, I think the valuations which we think are in order with respect to today when we look at equivalent categories which are happening in the area of home space, which are there in the market to that extent. Given the growth potential, given the fact that there is a very strong trajectory of about 15-20 CAGR, which we see over the next three to five years period, we think this is something which is justified because this is a space where one could kind of easily look at taking leadership and adding value from the point of view of the overall home perspective in a very, very strong way.
What we feel also today is that equivalent industries which you are able to see are talking of, really very strong valuations in terms of looking at, almost four to five times of the top line and looking at close to 10%-15% of the bottom line multiples in terms of what we see in the industry. Given the health of the current operations in terms of the two companies, what we see, where there are strong profitable companies to that extent, we feel that going forward, given the CAGRs and the potential which we see, this is clearly dependent in terms of their performance over the next three to five years.
Therefore, the whole payout, as you see, is dependent on the financial performance, and therefore we feel that the overall performance which we are seeing is linked to their financial performance and therefore fairly realistic and in line with what we are seeing in the environment as we kind of go forward.
Sir, you didn't touch the synergy aspect. If you could do that before I go to the second question.
Okay.
Sir, the opportunity I understood, sir. The synergy... Is it distribution that you're kind of arguing? Because the product is very much premium, that's why I didn't understand the synergy part.
Okay. We have been speaking about our home decor kind of foray for the last two, three years in a very strong way. Today, if you look at, we have almost about 29 stores which we have set up, which are the Beautiful Homes Stores, which are there, which are spread across about 35 towns across the country. By the end of the year, we are going to have about 70-75 stores across the country, where we are talking of home decor under one roof. There is where we are talking to the consumer, where the consumer is able to get all the categories within the home under one roof. We are already dealing with lighting, where we are currently sourcing the lighting from three, four players in the last two years.
We see a very strong response in terms of what we see in the decorative lighting space, which we are able to get from the customers. As I said, today the market is dominated by a lot of imports which happen from China, which are there to that extent. We today look at a very strong synergy with respect to our stores which are coming up.
We have about 500 premium stores spread across about 200 towns across the country, where we are looking at some of these stores kind of putting up spaces for both lighting as well as for doors and windows, where we are able to kind of look at contributing to the consumer in a very strong way in the whole cycle of the home renovation and the new home space in a very, very strong way. The synergy is very clear that we are talking of really kind of capturing the customer life cycle from the point of view of home renovation, new homes, home makeovers which come in.
Therefore, it kind of really adds to the core category of home painting in a very strong way, because you are catching the customer in all phases of life to that extent, and you have a specialized network. One, you're talking of your premium stores across about 200 towns. Then you are talking about the 75 stores which are coming up in this year, which would be spread across various parts of the country, where we will be able to offer them as part of our distribution.
In addition, we have a Beautiful Homes Service, which we have launched in the last two years, where we are looking at reaching out to a large cross-section of medium to premium homes across the country, where we will be able to pitch these services through our beautifulhomes.asianpaints.com model, which is a strong engine in terms of getting us leads across to the homeowners across the country. We see a strong synergy with our current business, and we see that it kind of really adds back to the core coatings business, and at the same time gives a leverage in terms of getting into the home decor business, so that we are able to really look at capturing the customer life cycle with respect to home renovation and new homes in a very strong way.
Got it, sir. Sir, my second and last question. Could you help us with the relative pricing of a uPVC window versus the traditional aluminum window? Also, you know, the relative pricing of a White Teak versus other brands in the decorative lighting segment, just so that we get a perspective of how do these brands stack up.
As we said that, see, White Teak medium, if you look at, from the point of view of, overall decorative space, they're already, doing a very, very strong business. We see very clearly that the business is going to be doubling every year as we kind of go forward. The decorating space is kind of today dominated by some small players in India, but largely by a lot of imports from China which are happening. Where we are bringing White Teak is, one, from the point of view of saying that there is a very strong design capability which we bring, which is integral to what the Indian consumers and the Asian consumers want in a very, very strong way, and is not based on some Chinese designs which are coming in terms of looking at dominating the market to that extent.
Therefore, one is the area of strong design in terms of what we are bringing into the space. Secondly, from the point of view of especially price, what we see is that White Teak today, which has a very strong online platform, which is an e-commerce platform, along with some of the company-owned stores, they bring very strongly a capability of having a pricing which is, one, comparable to the, you know, the imports which are happening from China. In fact, very, very competitive pricing to that extent. More importantly, the entire range, the designing, is very integral to what the Indian consumers want in a very, very strong way.
In a crux, what we have is a product on decorative lighting, which is very strong and comparable with respect to the pricing, with respect to the Chinese imports which are happening, and the, some of the Indian players which are there in the market. At the same time, it brings in a lot of innovation, because please remember, this is a product like fashion, okay? It changes every six months, and you need to kind of keep on innovating the design. Which is where this entire capability of White Teak comes in, with their international set of design capabilities which are coming, plus the whole area of the Indian culture getting integrated with respect to what the Indian consumers want. The second area is-
The pricing is similar. Yeah.
The second area is with respect to the uPVC segment, where you said that how does it compare with pricing.
Yeah.
In terms of pricing, when you look at Weatherseal, largely the operations are dominated in South India today. It's a very, very strong area which is there, where the prices are very, very competitive with respect to the current players in the market. Again, a large section of unorganized players there to that extent. We feel that here the crux lies in terms of the skill of the kind of product which you can do in terms of profiling and the type of finishes. Secondly, the element of service, which comes in in terms of delivery to the customer, which is currently a little bit of a pain area which Asian Paints wants to kind of capitalize going forward.
Net-net what we see, we will have a product which is comparable to the prices in the market, but with a lot of value addition with respect to design, with respect to finishes, and with respect to capabilities of service which we bring onto the service.
Okay, sir. Just a request. Given your enhanced focus on decor, please, if you could start sharing the breakup within the decorative of how much is decor, and so that we can appreciate the growth that way forward. That's the only last request. Thank you very much, sir.
Sure.
Thank you. Our next caller is Mr. Jaykumar Doshi from Kotak. Sir, request you to please switch on your mic and ask the question.
Hi. Good evening and thank you. By the way, White Teak is a pretty good brand. I mean, at least I like their collection and work. Congratulations on acquiring it. My first question is, you know, we are seeing an acquisition from Asian Paints after several years. I think you've refrained from acquisitions after Ess Ess and Sleek. Is this a fundamental change in philosophy? Should we expect more bolt-on acquisitions? And are you open to large ticket size acquisitions in home decor space? That's my first question, and I'll have one more.
Okay. First of all, after the Ess Ess and the Sleek acquisitions, we've done acquisitions in some of the international markets.
Mm-hmm.
Where we have looked at one of the acquisitions in Ethiopia, where we bought Kadisco Paints, and we bought another paint company in Sri Lanka by the name of Causeway Paints. These were two acquisitions which we did after the SS and Sleek acquisitions. I think today, Asian Paints is fairly opportunistic in terms of a good target and a good kind of alignment which we see with our strategy in terms of looking forward, and that is what we are kind of doing forward in terms of looking at it. As far as the home space is concerned, we feel that the current two acquisitions are in line with the strategy of the company.
Today, for I think all of you it is very important to know that in the coming three to five years, we are looking at the home decor space contributing to almost 10% of our overall decorative business in India. Therefore, it would be a sizable component in terms of going forward, in terms of what we speak of the home decor business, because it is having a very strong alignment with the core business of the coatings. Because as I said, we are trying to capture the customer life cycle in a very, very strong manner. A customer who's kind of doing home painting in a home, which is about the share of surface, is also looking at renovating the entire home. Therefore, this entire foray of home decor really adds on to the core business in a very, very strong manner.
Going forward, as I said, we would like to really see that this business reaches a certain contribution of the overall India decorative business going forward. Secondly, what we also see is that in coming times, we will keep our eyes and ears open for any newer areas of acquisition which comes in. Just for your information, last year we basically did an alignment with GM Syntex, which is a company which is into fabric and furnishings. Today we have been working very strongly in terms of expanding the footprint of the fabric and furnishing, which is now spanning across more than 600 kind of retail points across the industry. We are clearly close to the number two player in the fabric and the furnishing industry going forward.
Similarly, today what we see is that these two acquisitions go very strongly in giving us a very, very strong, kind of a footprint. Because now you already have bath, you have kitchen, you have furnishings, and now you have decorative lighting and doors and windows, which is coming and making your portfolio very, very rich from what we need to kind of offer to the consumer. At the same time, you are bringing an innovation, you are bringing something which is a very strong pricing, which is there in the game. At the same time, influencing the entire customer in the journey in terms of going ahead.
As we go forward, you will see possibly more innovations which will happen from the Asian Paints bandwagon, both from the point of view of organic and inorganic kind of forays, which in this space will be very, very useful for taking our business forward. Can you unmute yourself, Mr. Jay? Can someone-
Yeah.
Unmute Mr. Jay?
Yes.
Yeah.
Yes, I can. Thank you so much. Thanks for this. My second question is, can you explain us the organization structure and how it will be? Because you have a few brands of your own, you have partnerships, you have now acquired companies that will be run by promoters. You have retail footprint through Beautiful Homes and painting services, home services as well. How will the organization structure be, and how different will it be? Will it be a different team versus decorative paints?
Today, if you look at, we run basically the kitchen business as a separate subsidiary, as well as the bath system, which is the part of the overall standalone business of Asian Paints to that extent. When we look at these two, we are planning to run these as subsidiaries which are there strongly in terms of what comes on their own entities. At the same time, we have a very, very strong kind of a structure which is drawn in, where everything kind of comes under one management kind of circle. Where all of them look at this entire business as the home decor business in terms of both direct reporting as well as matrix reporting which comes in.
I think it's a very, very strong structure which is based on a technology where there are subsidiaries which are running separately, focusing on various areas. At the same time, there is a structure which is aligning them very strongly with the core business of Asian Paints in terms of increasing the footprint and aligning with the key retailers of Asian Paints who are progressing well in the core paints strategy to that extent. We feel that this strategy has been very strong, and in the last two years we have, in turn, been able to turn around the kitchen and the bath business, which are both profitable now to that extent, and have exponentially grown in the last two years in a very, very big way.
This structure, which is a combination of direct reporting and matrix structures, as well as the subsidiaries coming in together under that same structure, we feel that in this structure we have consumer as the nucleus. That is where what is guiding us in terms of looking at offering the consumer everything which goes into the home space in a very, very strong manner. Therefore, we have one structure which is responsible for getting all these categories to the home consumer, which is also looking at the Beautiful Homes Stores, the Beautiful Homes Service, and therefore integrating the entire piece very strongly together.
Thank you so much, and good luck.
Thank you, sir. Our next caller is Mr. Shirish Pardeshi from Centrum. Sir, please unmute your mic and ask the question.
Hi, Amit and team. Thank you for the opportunity and hearty congratulations. In fact, some time back, I happened to see the Palladium store for White Teak, and I was pretty excited in the product lines. My simple question is that when I look at the portfolio, you already have about seven stores in top seven metros, and you did allude saying that we will try and expand. The question is that how quickly we will be able to get this, because the product profile is good, but the question is that if the home buyers are running left, right, and center. Say maybe three years time, what is the revenue expectation?
I mean, I did expect that you have given category growth rate, but obviously we are hungry, and you are also hungry to see that. That's the first part. The related part is that if you can speak about margin profile, because we did know the margins in Sleek and Bath business. If you can help us to understand what kind of margins we have in White Teak.
Okay, great. When we look at White Teak, first and foremost, I must say that it is a capability which is giving Asian Paints a very strong capability in terms of digital kind of a space. One is the whole area of the physical stores, which are coming in terms of the White Teak stores which are there. It is the Beautiful Homes stores, which I spoke of. Is the premium stores of Asian Paints, which gives us a physical footprint all across the country in a very, very strong manner, which we are able to spread and take on in a big way as we kind of go forward to that extent.
The second opportunity which comes in is that today the larger part of the White Teak business comes in from the online e-commerce space in a very strong manner. That is a segment which is reaching out to the modern consumer, to the younger consumer, to the younger homeowners in a very, very strong way, and growing at almost an exponential rate, which is basically you cannot cap that rate to that extent in terms of going forward. What we see is that this dual capability which White Teak brings in, that one, you are able to expand the physical space to tomorrow to more than 200-300 towns across India. That is one very, very strong capability which Asian Paints brings into the mix.
The second area is the online e-commerce capability, which today really reaches out to almost practically the entire country in a very, very strong manner. Today, what we can say is that 70%-80% of the sales at White Teak are dominated from the online space, which comes in very, very strongly. There are two, three things which comes in here very strongly, that when we look at this entire White Teak, it gives us an opportunity in terms of really nurturing online e-commerce platform for home décor in a very, very strong way, apart from even the lighting business to that extent.
It also gives us an opportunity to earn higher margins in terms of looking at the whole area of e-commerce from where it kind of comes in, because it stands out from the point of view of design and technology in terms of what we are able to bring into space. As we look at it, currently, the overall EBITDA margins are fairly healthy, and they are comparable to the paint EBITDA margins in terms of the decorative lighting space which are there. We think given the fact that the margins are fairly healthy, the industry is growing at 15%-20% pace, and the fact that we have the physical and the online interface which is coming in very strongly, it meshed together in terms of a very, very strong foray in terms of the home space which we can make with White Teak.
Okay. My second and last question on the same business. I did look at the portfolio, and there are two other businesses which are there, more than home lighting, which is decorative fan, which are also very expensive. I'm not saying super luxury, but it's in the luxury segment. You also have the sculptures and the other artifacts business. My only presumption is that these all are high-ticket item. When you generally look into your Null Bazaar or the wholesale market in Mumbai, these all are Chinese import which are selling, but these are all cash. Do you think we have a bandwidth to handle such a cash system in the when we are saying the artifact business, for example?
Even the decorative fans. Maybe if you can spell out what is the category size, what is the opportunity in these two segments, and how are you going to deal? Because I think when you said that 500 stores, they are practically the touchpoints for the engagement of the consumer. While home decor stores might be selling actually and visiting to the customer house and all. How these two things are going to gel together?
Okay. That's an interesting proposition which you just put up in terms of going forward. See, while today there is fans is a very small part of the overall business, and so is the whole area of accessories in terms of the adjacencies which are with respect to the artifacts and other places which are there. Now, all these businesses largely get the traction from an online kind of a purchase which happens, and therefore, there is no larger kind of, really fear in terms of getting into a cash business, which is regarding the smaller kind of cash purchases happening in the system.
What in fact, which we see is a positive, which I alluded to earlier, is that this platform kind of gives us a very strong space of really integrating home furnishings, fabric, furniture, and a lot of other areas on the online platform in a very, very strong manner, and look at competing and really enlarging the whole market of the online e-commerce in a very, very strong way, which could kind of really spread to fabric, furniture, lighting and so many other areas which we could kind of really give a customer an access to. Today, also we feel that the whole area of the adjacency on the accessories is a piece which is more by the impulse purchase, which really happens when the customer gets onto the kind of website to that extent.
Therefore, we feel that rather than looking at stores carrying the adjacencies, the online space becomes a very, very strong space for the accessories and the artifacts which go. Therefore, I don't think so there is any concern about, you know, cash being involved and so on and so forth to that extent. We think it kind of goes into a very strong space where a lot of younger homeowners are looking at buying in terms of adjacencies, along with the main categories coming in a very, very strong manner.
Okay. Thank you, Amit. All the best to you and the team. Thank you.
Thank you, sir. Our next caller is Mr. Amit Sachdeva from HSBC. Sir, I request you to please unmute your mic and ask the question.
Hi. Good evening, everyone, and thank you so much for taking my questions. Congratulations for White Teak. Basically, you know, this brand is familiar to people who have looked for such things, and I think it's positioned in a luxury premium, super premium segment. I think product range definitely is impressive. My question is basically a very first principle one, wherein, you know, when you look at this acquisition, in clear terms, what exactly have you bought here? Is it the luxury digital brand which is selling lighting, and then you can add other categories to it? Or the design capabilities they have that there's a catalog which you thought will take long time to build? Or something else that comes with it which we are not able to read?
Because I see this is a profitable business. There's a customer base. What I'm trying to understand is that what part of the business you couldn't do yourself that you're buying this business for? Because it's still a small business, and company such as Asian Paints has resources to build these capabilities in-house. Similar thing, same is the question for Weatherseal as well. It's a very small pie. Why Asian Paints couldn't do it themselves in production capability or technology or anything? Why this technology needs to be bought and built? These are the basic two questions, but more nuanced question probably in White Teak would be helpful. What exactly should we think that furniture could be the next big thing? Is a marketplace model that you're going to? How are you gonna build this whole capability? That would be useful.
Thank you so much, sir.
Okay, great. What we look at is that, when we buy into White Teak, the competencies which are coming very strongly into the picture is that their superb element of the design capabilities which they bring onto the table. Because we must remember that today the market is dominated by a lot of Chinese players which are coming up. They today typically not kind of look at the various consumer segments who are very, very desirous of looking at a very great design which comes in, which appeals to them, which is based with respect to Indian ethos, kind of appeals to the Indian sensibilities in a very, very strong manner. Today, White Teak
Mm-hmm.
Over the last few years, has been able to set up a very, very strong and sturdy design system which has been in place. Which is able to kind of really sense the customer choices, look at possibly what really appeals to the customer in a very strong manner, and bring it to the table in a very strong manner. The second area is that today, the basic area of lighting manufacture involves sourcing from multitude of players. So whether you are making a chandelier or you are making in terms of some of the lighting which are there with respect to the lampshades, the material and so on and so forth, it involves a multitude of supply chain capabilities and a lot of expert sourcing which has to be done.
Mm-hmm.
from a multitude of vendors to that extent. What we feel is that Asian Paints setting up this entire zone by itself would have taken us very clearly two to three years in terms of looking at a setup in a very strong manner, and looking at dedicating people in terms of building these capabilities over a period of time. We felt that given the fact that it is a growing market, today it might be a very strong platform in terms of really aligning with a player which already has got, one, expertise in terms of the design capabilities which they bring strongly onto the table. Secondly, the multitude of manufacturing capabilities with supply chain alignment in terms of the huge number of vendors which are involved, who are able to supply and assimilate that product in terms of bringing to the customer a finalized product to that extent.
Third, today in this space, there is no other player, and I repeat, no other player which is able to match the online and the e-commerce capabilities which White Teak will, you know, it brings onto the table, which is very, very strong. Today, if Asian Paints wants to build that over a period of time, it would have taken it a very, very long time in terms of building that kind of a capability in terms of going forward. In a nutshell, if you look at the design capabilities, the whole area of supply chain capabilities, the whole area of manufacturing, and third, the whole chemistry of the online e-commerce space, I think makes the whole area of White Teak a very, very strong zone for Asian Paints to kind of really take in.
We feel that here is an opportunity of really making a foray where the whole unorganized business of lighting can be converted into a far more stronger organized business, and it would kind of give Asian Paints to be the first kind of company which kind of makes a foray and becomes the number one leader in terms of decorative lighting in a very strong manner.
Got it. No, that's very, very helpful, Amit. Can I say, is the vision, long-term vision for this business like becoming a premium IKEA or something of that sort, where it's furniture, lighting and everything? And/or is it like lighting plus something? You know, that's a very philosophical question, but probably the direction where you're going probably is a larger one, not just lighting, and it might entail, you know, going through a lot of other categories as well, probably much larger categories than probably lighting is. It just opens doors. Given the name is White Teak, it signals a lot more than lighting, perhaps.
You're right. As I've been saying that today home decor is a very strong space Asian Paints has ventured into. What we see very clearly is that this is a space which is contiguous with our core business, which is the painting business and the home business in terms of what we are into. White Teak is one of the tools in terms of what we are using, in terms of really kind of filling in a gap on a category where we are already there in kitchen, bath, fabrics and furnishings in a very strong manner, where we get the lighting space and take a lead in terms of looking at really getting an expertise and looking at a design quotient which comes in.
This is not only with respect to a premium and luxury space, given the fact that Asian Paints really caters to our customers on a large platform. We would even look at possibly a little bit of a medium class customer also coming into this paradigm of the lighting in a very, very strong way. In addition, as you rightly said, this platform is really a magical platform, which is an online e-commerce platform where we can leverage the White Teak capabilities, its customer base, married with the capabilities of an Asian Paints, you know, customer base, which is already there.
Look at in terms of really seeing that we are leveraged and able to have access to millions of customers across the country in a very strong manner, where we are able to pitch to the customer not only in terms of kitchen, bath, furnishing, furniture, lighting, flooring, and a whole range of products which can be taken on an online platform, which can really give a capability to the company that it dominates the customer lifecycle from the point of view of the home business, the home renovation business, and the home makeover business in a very strong manner.
Thank you so much, Amit. Can you just give this brief but similar answer for why, you know, the Weatherseal, why you couldn't make it yourself and why you had to bought that small business? Is there some unique patented technology which is coming with it? I don't think so. What is the logic of doing that? Sorry to ask you this question, but you know, if I'm not clear.
It's a valid question. What we see is that similarly, when you look at the whole areas of doors, windows and in terms of taking it forward, today there are players in the organized market. Today we look at about 40% of the business of the total INR 11,000 crore pie coming from the organized market. There are still very big parts of the unorganized market in there. Now the supply chain here is a very complex supply chain. There is an extruding partner which looks at either extrusion or doing the profiling in terms of looking at supplying you this aluminum or the uPVC kind of profiles to that extent which is there.
Mm-hmm.
There is this whole second area in terms of taking it to the measurements of various homes and bungalows. From the point of view of French windows, doors and so on and so forth, which would tie in or come in. The third area is the whole area of the coating of the uPVC and the aluminum, which can get into a lot of decorative painting which would kind of come in. Normally, there is gold, bronze, and there are a lot of hydrophobic coatings and a lot of innovative coatings which are coming in the space. There is a whole supply chain around it to that extent. The third supply chain around it is in terms of fixing it with glass, sourcing glass, looking at glazing technologies in glass, which is very, very different in terms of what we bring onto the table.
If you look at the entire supply chain, it's not a very easy supply chain that I can set it overnight. In terms of just kind of fixing, glass to a uPVC profile. It involves a very, very kind of complex supply chain, right from extruding, from the point of view of profiling, from the point of view of designing, from the point of view of over-coating, from the point of view of glass sourcing. Therefore, it is a fairly complex business, and it doesn't seem it is something which can be kind of really done very easily on your own, especially when you see that there are some established organized players in the market which are already there.
If you want to be one up on the race, okay, rather than getting into it yourself, which would kind of take you years in terms of aligning with all kinds of supply chain which are involved, this is a very strong way of aligning with a very strong company, which kind of brings, one, the engineering technology, second, from the point of view of our coatings technology, and the third, a certain kind of a structure which is already there in terms of reaching the retail consumer, at the same time reaching out to the B2B consumer in a very, very strong manner.
We think it is not absolutely impossible to set it up, but why spend about three to four years to kind of really set up the system when there is a very strong and able player which can give you a leverage into this market, and you can start growing the business in terms of more than a 20%-30% CAGR over a period of time, and that would kind of give you a capability to become amongst the top players in the market in this zone.
Got it. Thank you so much, Amit. Very useful. Thanks a lot. That's it for me.
Thank you so much, everyone. This was the end of the Q&A session. I would now request Mr. Amit Syngle to please give us some closing remarks.
Okay. I think, I would really thank all of you that you came for this meeting at a very, very short notice. I think it is very, very useful for us to kind of really get into your mindset in terms of what you're thinking when we look at this, acquisitions going forward. As you kind of go forward, if you look at the way we are making a disclosure, we are being very, very transparent in terms of how we want to kind of really grow the business in the next five years.
Therefore, you would see that the disclosure is not limited to what we are taking immediately, but what we are talking in terms of the future, next few years in terms of what we want to kind of do. Therefore, I think the intent of the organization is very clear that this business of home decor is very, very dear to us. It is very, very contiguous with our existing business. We see that this business being 10% of our total turnover in terms of going forward. Therefore, we would like basically that from time to time we are able to brief you in terms of how we these two businesses will grow along with the kitchen and the bath business, which is also growing in a very strong manner, along with the furnishing business, which is there.
Therefore, please keep a lookout in terms of new excitements coming your way. These are very strong forays which are happening. It kind of builds capability to Asian Paints to be a largest home decor player and a very strong leverage on the whole coatings space which we already have in terms of really leveraging our experience of understanding the home consumer in a very big way. Thank you so much in terms of coming and really giving us this audience.