Berger Paints MD Subir Bose (left) with vice-chairman G.S. Dhingra in Calcutta on Friday. A Telegraph picture

Calcutta, July 28: Paints makers are planning to increase the prices of their solvent-based products by 4-5 per cent from the first week of September.

?The cost of raw materials has risen so sharply because of spiralling crude and petroleum product rates that a 5-6 per cent increase in paints prices, particularly the solvent-based ones, has become warranted,? said Subir Bose, managing director of Berger Paints India. Berger has become the second largest paints manufacturer in the country in terms of revenue.

Market leader Asian Paints is also considering a price rise from this quarter itself. ?We have decided to increase the prices of our solvent-based paints from September 1. But the percentage of the hike has not yet been decided,? said Ashwin Dani, vice-chairman and managing director of Asian Paints.

?All paints makers are now feeling tremendous pressure on their margins because of the rising cost of raw materials. But a mid-season price rise will be in line with the general inflation rate that is now hovering around 5 per cent,? said M.R. Rajaram, executive director of ICI India.

Berger profit

Berger Paints has reported a 10.6 per cent rise in profit after tax for the first three months of the current financial year at Rs 17.21 crore compared with Rs 15.56 crore in the year-ago period. Its sales grew by 15 per cent to Rs 291.17 crore from Rs 253.10 crore.

Asian Paints net

Asian Paints has recorded a consolidated net sales of Rs 777.3 crore for the April-June quarter, up 17.3 per cent from Rs 662.58 crore during the same quarter last fiscal. Its consolidated net profit increased to Rs 60.30 crore from Rs 43.78 crore, registering a 37.7 per cent growth.