BENGALURU (Reuters) – India’s Asian Paints reported fourth-quarter profit below estimates on Thursday, hurt by a fall in revenue as it cut prices to weather tighter competition following the entry of Grasim Industries.
The company’s consolidated net profit rose 1.8% from last year to 12.57 billion rupees ($150.6 million) in the quarter ended March 31, missing analysts’ expectation of 13.62 billion rupees, per LSEG data.
Sales for the quarter fell 0.6%, dragged by weak demand for decorative paints, the company’s biggest business.
The company has struggled under intensifying competition, as Grasim entered what analysts earlier this year called an already crowded paints industry.
Shares of the company were down 3.6% after reporting results.
($1 = 83.4720 Indian rupees)
(Reporting by Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Varun H K)
