Asian Paints, one of India’s leading paint manufacturers, has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Gujarat government to establish a manufacturing facility in Dahej. The agreement was signed through Asian Paints, the company’s newly formed wholly-owned subsidiary (Polymers). In Dahej, Gujarat, an Asian Paints subsidiary will establish a manufacturing facility for Vinyl Acetate Ethylene Emulsion (VAE) and Vinyl Acetate Monomer (VAM).
The stated manufacturing facility would have an installed capacity of 100,000 tonnes per year for VAM and 150,000 tonnes per year for VAE. VAM is an important input in the production of VAE. Asian Paints revealed in its regulatory filing on October 20, 2022, that VAE is the future emulsion and the key constituent for manufacturing environmentally friendly paints. VAE improves paint properties and has the potential to significantly improve paint performance in customer-facing attributes.
Asian Paints currently imports VAE and VAM for internal consumption. This would be a critical backward integration project for the organisation. The company has also entered into technology and other allied agreements with KBR in order to manufacture VAM.