Berger Paints India Limited

Basic Materials — Specialty Chemicals · NSE

₹476.00+₹5.95 (+1.27%)

DalalBaazaar Score

59 / 100

🟡 Moderate

Verdict

CAUTION

Risk

Moderate

Driven by high debt relative to equity.

In simple words: Strong business and financial position, with both sales and profits growing well. Debt is the main factor to watch.

Decision support, not a buy or sell call.

As of 18 Oct 2026, 7:46 pm

Understanding the Business

Company site ↗

The 60-second version of Berger Paints India Limited — what it does, how it earns, and who it competes with, before any of the numbers below.

What does this company do?

Berger Paints India Limited manufactures and sells paints in India and internationally.

IndustrySpecialty Chemicals

SectorBasic Materials

Employees5,105

Annual revenue₹11,790 Cr

How does it make money?

Turns over ₹11,790 Cr a year. Of every ₹100 of sales, about ₹10 reaches shareholders as profit, with ₹17 left at the operating level before interest, tax and depreciation. Each of its 5,105 employees supports ₹2.31 Cr of revenue a year, the signature of a capital- or asset-led business.

Revenue / employee₹2.31 Cr

Who are its competitors?

The closest listed comparisons in its industry are ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED, PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD, SRF LTD, UPL LIMITED. These are the companies its valuation and returns are measured against elsewhere in this report.

Compared side by side in Peers ↓

What is its competitive advantage?The numbers suggest a real one

ROCE has stayed above 15% in every year available and stands at 20.6%. Returns that high normally get competed away; when they persist, something is protecting them, and its ROE of 16.3% against a peer median of 22.3% is consistent with that. What that something is — brand, scale, switching costs, regulation — the accounts cannot tell you.

Peer median ROE22.3%

What is the outlook?

21 analysts covering the stock expect revenue to grow about 8.4% and earnings to grow about 12.0% in the year to 2028. These are estimates by people who follow the company, not a forecast for the wider industry.

Est. revenue growth+8.4%

Est. earnings growth+12.0%

Analysts21

What has been driving growth?

Sales and margins have both contributed to where profit is now. Over 3 years revenue moved +13% while net margin moved +16% relative to itself. What this cannot tell you is which products, customers or geographies did the work — that lives in the segment disclosures of the annual report.

Revenue effect+13%

Margin effect+16%

DalalBaazaar Score

59/ 100

Moderate

Weighted across six categories. Every point is explained below.

✗ P/E of 45.6x is demanding — it needs sustained high growth to justify
• P/E is close to its own historical median of 53.6x
✗ P/B of 8.02x is a steep premium to book

Quality vs. Valuation

Company Quality

64/ 100

Average

How good the business is, ignoring the share price entirely.

Valuation

40/ 100

Expensive

What you are being asked to pay, ignoring how good the business is.

A reasonable business at a reasonable price — neither the quality nor the valuation stands out in either direction.

Historical Valuation

Current P/E

45.6x

3Y Median

53.6x

40 monthly readings · mean 58.4x · range 40.5x–82.3x

Sector Median

40.4x

median of 4 sector peers

🟢Current valuation is approximately 15% below its 3y median of 53.6x. Cheaper than its own history, which is worth a reason too: the market may be pricing in something the backward-looking numbers do not show.

🟡Against its sector it is priced broadly in line with the peer median of 40.4x.

vs. its own history

Fair

53.6x median over 40 months · -15%

vs. sector peers

Fair

40.4x median of 4 peers · +13%

vs. generic bands

Expensive

Above 35x

EV/EBITDA

28.6x

PEG

4.82

What's Good / What's Bad

🟢 What's Going Well5

Margins are improving
EBITDA margin is up from 14.8% to 16.6% over 3 years.
Debt is being paid down
Total debt is down 47% over 3 years.
Cash generation is improving
Free cash flow is up 349% over 3 years.
High return on capital employed
ROCE of 20.6% is the mark of a business that converts capital into profit efficiently.
Consistently profitable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years.

🔴 What Needs Attention1

Return on capital is falling
ROCE has declined from 25.3% to 20.6% — often a sign of competition or overexpansion.

Red Flags

1 item require attention · 1 high

🔴High leverageFinancial
Debt/Equity of 9.16x — earnings must service borrowings before shareholders see anything.

Investment Thesis

🟢 Bull CaseWhat could make this work?

Capital compounds at a high rate
ROCE of 20.6% means each rupee reinvested earns well above what capital costs. If the company can keep deploying at this rate, growth creates value rather than just consuming cash.
Margin expansion has further to run
EBITDA margin has risen from 14.8% to 16.6%. If that holds, profit compounds faster than sales and today's multiple looks cheaper in hindsight than it does now.
Deleveraging frees up earnings
Debt is down 47% over 3 years. Every rupee of interest not paid drops to the bottom line, so profit can grow even if revenue does not.
Earnings have proved durable
Profitable in every one of the last 4 reported years. Consistency lowers the risk that any single bad year is structural rather than cyclical.

🔴 Bear CaseWhat could go wrong?

Leverage amplifies any setback
Debt/Equity of 9.16x. Interest is payable whether or not the business has a good year.
Growth barely outpaces inflation
Revenue compounding at 4.2% a year is close to the rate prices rise, so the business is gaining little ground in real terms. That leaves the share price dependent on a re-rating rather than on earnings growth.

🟡 Key Things to WatchMeasurable tripwires, set against where this company stands today

1EBITDA margin holds above 15%✓ 16.6%
Two points below today's level — enough room for noise, tight enough to catch real compression.
2Revenue growth stays above 4% a year✓ 4.2% CAGR
Latest reported year was 12.0%. The bar is set below the established compounding rate, so ordinary variation does not trip it.
3Free cash flow remains positive✓ ₹1,022 Cr
Profit that never becomes cash eventually stops being profit.
4Debt / EBITDA stays below 2x✓ 0.3x
The ratio lenders write covenants against; it survives a small or negative equity base, unlike Debt/Equity.
5ROCE stays above 18%✓ 20.6%
Falling returns on capital are usually competition arriving, and show up here before they reach the margin.

Investment Checklist

8 / 12 checks passed

✓ Strong return on equity (ROE ≥ 15%)
✓ Strong return on capital employed (ROCE ≥ 15%)
✗ Healthy net margin (≥ 10%)
✓ Generates positive free cash flow
✗ Manageable leverage (Debt/Equity < 1.0)
✓ Adequate short-term liquidity (Current Ratio ≥ 1.0)
✓ Revenue growing year-over-year
✓ Profit growing year-over-year
✗ Not trading at an extreme valuation (P/E < 40x)
✓ Not buying right at the 52-week high
✓ Analyst consensus isn't majority-sell
✗ Short-term technical trend isn't bearish

Price history

Quick Metrics

6 good · 2 neutral · 3 weak

Market Cap

₹55,502 Cr

Mid Cap

Mid-sized — more growth headroom, but sharper swings than large caps

P/E (Trailing)

45.6x

Expensive

Expensive — verify against sector peers

P/B Ratio

8.02x

Rich

Steep premium to book — needs high, durable returns to justify

EPS (TTM)

₹10.44

Profitable

Profitable on a per-share basis

ROE

16.3%

Strong

Strong capital efficiency

ROCE

20.6%

Strong

Earns comfortably above its likely cost of capital

Debt/Equity

9.16x

High

High leverage

Revenue Growth (YoY)

12.0%

Healthy

Healthy top-line growth

Profit Growth (YoY)

28.5%

Healthy

Profits growing at a healthy clip

Dividend Yield

0.84%

Modest

Small cash return — most of the return has to come from the price

Free Cash Flow

₹1,022 Cr

Cash generative

Generates cash even after funding its capex

More Metrics

P/E (Forward)

36.8x

Improving

Below the trailing multiple — the street expects earnings to grow into the price

Operating Margin

14.1%

Average

Average margins

Net Margin

9.9%

Average

Average bottom-line conversion

Current Ratio

2.12

Comfortable

Healthy short-term liquidity

Beta (vs Nifty)

0.45

Defensive

Steadier than the market

52W Range Position

42%

Mid-range

Technical Snapshot

SMA 20 / SMA 50

461.9 / 487.9

Bearish alignment (short < long)

Price vs SMA 200

Below

Long-term downtrend

RSI (14)

60.4

Neutral momentum

Financial Trend (4-Year)

Metric	FY23	FY24	FY25	FY26	3Y CAGR
Revenue	₹10,415 Cr	₹11,100 Cr	₹11,457 Cr	₹11,790 Cr	+4.2%
EBITDA	₹1,544 Cr	₹1,975 Cr	₹1,972 Cr	₹1,957 Cr	+8.2%
EBITDA Margin	14.8%	17.8%	17.2%	16.6%	—
PAT (Net Profit)	₹859 Cr	₹1,168 Cr	₹1,180 Cr	₹1,127 Cr	+9.5%
EPS	₹7.37	₹10.02	₹10.12	₹9.66	+9.4%
ROE	19.1%	21.7%	19.2%	16.3%	—
ROCE	25.3%	27.2%	24.2%	20.6%	—
Total Debt	₹1,189 Cr	₹753 Cr	₹670 Cr	₹635 Cr	-18.9%
Free Cash Flow	₹228 Cr	₹1,316 Cr	₹840 Cr	₹1,022 Cr	+65.0%

🟢 Revenue has grown at 4.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA has grown at 8.2% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EBITDA Margin has risen from 14.8% to 16.6% over 3 years (+1.8 pts).

🟢 PAT (Net Profit) has grown at 9.5% a year over 3 years.

🟢 EPS has grown at 9.4% a year over 3 years.

🔴 ROE has fallen from 19.1% to 16.3% over 3 years (-2.8 pts).

🔴 ROCE has fallen from 25.3% to 20.6% over 3 years (-4.6 pts).

🟢 Total Debt has shrunk at 18.9% a year over 3 years.

🟢 Free Cash Flow has grown at 65.0% a year over 3 years.

Balance Sheet & Cash Flow — FY2026

Total Assets

₹10,057 Cr

Total Liabilities

₹3,127 Cr

Cash & Equivalents

₹207 Cr

Operating Cash Flow

₹1,540 Cr

Capex

-₹518 Cr

Shareholding (proxy)

Institutional Holding

15.6%

Insider Holding

75.6%

Corporate Actions

Next Earnings

05 Nov 2026

Dividend Rate

₹4

Ex-Dividend Date

05 Aug 2026

Analyst Consensus

Recommendations

11 Buy · 6 Hold · 5 Sell

Target Price (Mean)

₹571.09

+20.0% vs CMP

Target Range

₹440 – ₹685

Peer Comparison

Company	P/E	ROE
ASIAN PAINTS LIMITED	46.9x	22.3%
PIDILITE INDUSTRIES LTD	57.8x	24.4%
SRF LTD	33.8x	15.4%
UPL LIMITED	21.5x	6.1%

Recent News

2 mixed4 general

Berger Paints India Ltd (BERGEPAINT) Share Price

Business Today, 16 Oct

The Dealer Network Battle in Decorative Paint: What the Retail Reach Test Really Reveals

Kalkine India, 16 Oct

BERGEPAINT Outlook for the Week

Equitypandit, 09 Oct

Berger Paints India (NSEI:BERGEPAINT) Stock Forecast & Analyst Predictions

Simply Wall Street, 10 OctAnalyst view

🟡Mixed / dependsBroker commentary — an opinion about the price rather than new information about the business.

Why Berger Paints India Share Price is Rising

Equitymaster, 13 May

Berger Paints India Shares Gain 2.09%, Financials Show Mixed Trends

Moneycontrol.com, 10 AugPrice move

🟡Mixed / dependsA price move, which is not by itself a change in the business. Worth finding the cause before reading it as either good or bad.

Watch Items

Cross-check against the company's latest quarterly filing / investor presentation before acting.

DalalBaazaar Thesis

StrongFinancial Health · Profitability

MiddlingBusiness Quality · Growth · Risk

WeakValuation

Points for each in the Score ↑

Unremarkable in both directions

A reasonable business at a reasonable price. Nothing here is alarming and nothing is compelling, which usually means the decision rests on things this data cannot see — the industry's direction, management's intent, and what else is available to you. 1 high-severity red flag sits above this conclusion and should be read first.

All 5 tripwires holding · see Key things to watch ↑