Interview: Mehul Parikh, Advisor – Construction Chemicals Business, Pidilite Industries

With ongoing global conflicts and supply chain disruptions affecting the availability and pricing of imported raw materials, how is your company navigating these challenges while ensuring product quality, delivery timelines, and cost competitiveness?
Volatility in global raw material flows with multiple geopolitical disturbances is now a real-life situation that the industry needs to grapple with and take into stride rather than assume it to be a passing disruption. At Pidilite , especially post-Covid our supply chain strategies have been steadily made robust to cater to just such disruptions by building resilience into the system rather than reacting input by input. Through redundancies built in at virtually every level, our primary lever is localisation: we have steadily deepened domestic sourcing and developed alternate, thoroughly tested and qualified vendors within India so that no single geography or supplier becomes a point of failure or bottleneck. Where imported inputs are unavoidable, in addition to multiple sources duly tested for quality benchmarking, our R&D teams work continuously on indigenisation and value engineering to reduce dependence on those inputs without compromising performance. Quality is non-negotiable, so every alternate material is validated through the same stringent testing and approval protocols including field validations before it reaches a production line. Regarding timely delivery reliability, our distributed manufacturing footprint across India keeps us close to demand centres and shortens lead times even when global logistics are stretched. The scale of our operations across a broad portfolio, enables us to plan procurement, forecast in advance, hold strategic buffers on critical inputs where needed, and strengthens our systems to easily absorb short-term shocks while protecting cost competitiveness for our customers. The objective is consistent reliability, so that an architect, consultant or a project manager can specify and choose our solutions with confidence regardless of what is happening in global markets.

With infrastructure projects becoming more complex, timelines shrinking, and quality expectations rising, what products and solutions has your company introduced in the past two years to address faster execution, durability, sustainability, and long-term performance?
One of our most significant strategic initiatives in recent years has been strengthening Pidilite Professional Solutions (PPS), our dedicated projects vertical built around a “Sketch to Site” philosophy. PPS brings together our expert brands including Dr. Fixit, Roff, Dr. Cipy, Araldite and others, alongside technical services, site audits, project tracking and a network of trained applicators, enabling us to support complex projects across infrastructure, data centres, industrial facilities, healthcare and commercial real estate through an integrated solutions approach. On the product side, as climate change creates new harsher performance conditions on sites with increasing rainfall intensity or extreme heat, our focus has been on innovating for systems that sustain the vagaries of nature while enabling contractors to compress application timelines, while extending service life for the benefit of project owners and designers: with fast-curing, moisture tolerant and high-build waterproofing systems such as Dr. Fixit Flexi PU 500 GC and Dr. Fixit TankPro series, integral crystalline durability enhancing admixtures and polyurethane-based primer-less liquid membrane technologies such as Dr. Fixit Wonderproof 100 for complex and demanding structures, and decorative and industrial flooring through Dr. Cipy Creative Floors, including finishes such as Cerrazzo. On sustainability and durability, our Building Envelope Solutions are designed to improve energy efficiency and help reduce operating costs while providing a wide range of aesthetic finishes, supporting the broader objectives of sustainable and energy-conscious building design, including principles reflected in the Energy Conservation and Sustainability Building Code (ECSBC 2024). Solutions such as our Green Roof System help convert rooftops into usable, sustainable landscaped spaces that also improve urban microclimate and societal well-being. Underlying all of this is a shift in mindset from selling a product to delivering a long-term outcome through integrated solutions, technical expertise and certified application.

The construction chemicals market remains highly fragmented, with unorganised players continuing to hold a significant share. How is your company navigating this challenge while strengthening brand trust, market presence, and market share?
Fragmentation is best addressed not by competing on price with unorganised players, but by changing the basis on which customers make decisions moving the thought process from lowest upfront cost to lowest lifecycle cost and assured performance. That is where an organised player can build a visible and durable advantage. Pidilite has spent over six decades earning trust through brands like Fevicol and Dr. Fixit, and we extend that trust into construction chemicals through systems that are tested, warranty-backed and supported by technical service before, during and after application. Our presence reaches from large project sites down to neighbourhood markets and individual homes through a deep distribution network, experience and training centres, and a growing base of certified applicators. We invest heavily in education, helping homeowners, contractors and specifiers understand why a certified system outperforms a generic, unbranded chemical over the life of a structure. By influencing specification at the design stage for correct system selection, supporting the channel with technical know/how, and standing behind our work with warranties, we steadily convert demand from the unorganised segment into the organised, accountable one. Market share, in our view, follows trust built on reliability rather than the other way around.

How is the shift towards performance-based construction changing customer expectations and redefining the role of construction chemicals in modern infrastructure projects? How is your company aligning its products, technologies, and execution practices to address this transition?
Performance-based construction has elevated construction chemicals from an incidental line item to a strategic enabler of durability, resilience and lifecycle value. Clients no longer ask only what a product costs; they ask what outcome it delivers, how will the application happen on site, what is the applicator’s qualification, how many years of leak-free performance it can support, how it contributes to energy efficiency, how it performs under thermal and structural movement, and what evidence through independent testing supports those claims. The conversation has moved from products to system solutions, and further from systems to demonstrably assured outcomes. We have aligned to this on three fronts. On products and technology, we develop robustly tested system solutions with defined performance characteristics rather than standalone materials, supported by one of the industry’s largest dedicated R&D teams based in India and abroad. On execution, PPS provides specification support, site audits, project tracking and trained applicators because performance is delivered as much on site as in the laboratory. For large or critical projects, we can also deploy specialist contracting capability through Nina Percept our 100% owned subsidiary, because the ultimate differentiator is through execution excellence built on decades of proven expertise. On accountability, we support customers through technical assurance, certified application practices and, where applicable, warranty-backed solutions designed to provide long-term confidence in performance. In short, we are organising our offering around the outcome the client actually wants, not simply the product being specified.

Counterfeit and low-quality products remain a major challenge for the construction chemicals industry. How is your company protecting its brand integrity and educating customers on the importance of quality, certified solutions, and proper application practices?
Counterfeiting hurts everyone – the customer who unknowingly purchases an inferior product, the genuine applicator, and ultimately the integrity of the structure itself. We therefore treat it as both a brand-protection issue and a customer-safety issue. On protection, we invest in packaging, coding and traceability features that help channel partners and end-users verify authenticity, and we act firmly, including through legal channels, against infringement of our brands. Education, however, is the more powerful long-term defence. A customer who understands what a genuine, certified system delivers – and what a counterfeit cannot – becomes far harder to mislead. We invest continuously in awareness programmes for both customers and the trade, explaining why product certification, proper surface preparation and correct application practices are as important as the material itself. We reinforce this through certified applicator programmes and solution-led offerings that give customers confidence in long-term performance. Our experience and training centres located strategically across India, chat bot enabled technical helplines and on-site advisory services all serve the same purpose: making the right, educated choice the easy and obvious one.

Skilled applicators are often considered the weakest link in project execution. How critical is the shortage of trained applicators in India, and what steps are needed to improve installation quality and on-site execution standards?
This is one of the most important issues facing our industry. Even the best-engineered product or specification can fail if it is applied incorrectly – improper sequencing, inadequate surface preparation, incorrect mixing ratios, incorrect application process or inadequate curing are few of the factors that can impact application outcomes and in a country building at India’s pace, the gap between the volume of work to be done and the availability of properly trained application teams on sites is significant. Application is where performance is ultimately won or lost. Execution excellence is the key to desired performance outcome and durability of solutions. Pidilite has long invested in closing this gap by being one of the earliest implementers of structured training programs for the application ecosystem starting from the owner/manager of the applicator to the site supervisors and most importantly covering the actual skilled technicians doing the installation on site. Through our P.A.C.E training centres and our experience centres, we train and certify applicators, and we have built a nationwide network of trained partner applicators that customers can rely on. But the scale of the need is larger than any single company can meet. What is required is a coordinated, industry-wide effort: standardised skilling and certification frameworks, partnerships with skilling missions and vocational institutions, integration of application skills into civil engineering and ITI curricula, and just as importantly raising the status and earning potential of the applicator so that the trade attracts and retains talent. Treating skilled application as a recognised, certified profession is the single biggest lever for improving on-site execution standards.

How important is a strong dealer and applicator network in driving growth, customer trust, and brand penetration? What strategies is your company adopting to strengthen its channel ecosystem?
The channel is not merely a route to market; it is often the face of the brand. For many customers, the dealer who recommends a solution and the applicator who installs it effectively represent the brand, and their advice and workmanship determine whether the customer’s experience matches our promise. A strong, well-supported network is therefore central to growth, trust and penetration alike, particularly as demand deepens beyond metros into Tier 2 and Tier 3 markets and smaller towns across what we call as Emerging India. Our strategy rests on enablement rather than just expansion. We continue to widen our reach across the country, but the emphasis is on equipping partners to succeed through technical training and certification for applicators, product and selling knowledge for dealers, loyalty programmes, digital tools that simplify ordering and technical guidance, and responsive on-site support. Training at our P.A.C.E centres also covers project dealers and distributors through specific modules that spread awareness on correct system recommendation, product handling and usage. Through PPS, we connect this ecosystem directly to project demand while also extending specialist support for complex applications. When dealers and applicators grow with us and confidently recommend tested, performance-driven solutions, customer trust and brand penetration follow naturally.

Despite BIS, ASTM, and EN standards, enforcement remains weak across projects. How can the industry improve compliance, specification culture, and certification standards for construction chemicals and applicators in India?
Standards exist; the challenge is that they are too often treated as references rather than requirements. Strengthening compliance is less about writing new standards and more about building a culture in which specification is taken seriously and enforced through the project value chain. The starting point is the specification itself: when standards, test methods and acceptance criteria are written clearly into tender and contract documents and tied to verifiable, third-party certification compliance stops being optional.
Several things would help. First, capacity building for specifiers: architects, structural consultants and clients so that performance is specified knowledgeably rather than generically. Second, certification of applicators alongside products, so that both the material and the method are accountable; a certified system applied by an uncertified hand is no solution. Third, a stronger role for industry associations and standards bodies in promoting harmonised, enforceable benchmarks and in flagging non-compliance. As an organised manufacturer, our part is to make compliance easy: through tested and certified systems, clear documentation, application training, and warranties that give clients a commercially viable reason to insist on certified products and certified application.

How is your company integrating low-carbon technologies, green materials, and sustainable construction chemical solutions into its product portfolio and long-term strategy?
Our view of sustainability in the context of construction goes far beyond simply using ‘green’ materials and certifications. It encompasses resource efficiency, lifecycle durability, reduced maintenance needs and minimal environmental footprint.
Therefore, we see sustainability and profitability not as opposites, but as partners in shaping the future of Indian construction. We approach sustainability as a system rather than a product label. A solution is only truly sustainable if it also performs over the long term, because a product that fails prematurely and requires replacement carries a significantly higher environmental cost than one that delivers lasting performance. That principle guides both our portfolio and our long-term strategy. Let’s recognize that the true client is not the building itself but the human beings living inside and using the building. So, the real questions are, not just how iconic our buildings look or how aesthetic they are on day one, but whether they keep looking aesthetic for several years, whether they are being built in a manner that doesn’t add to the environmental burden and whether they remain functionally efficient for decades. We need to solve for these questions as its important our buildings perform for the millions who live, work, and grow inside them. Practically, this is reflected across multiple parts of our portfolio. Our Building Envelope Solutions are designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce the cooling load of buildings, while our Green Roof System helps create vegetated rooftop spaces that deliver thermal and water-management benefits. Across categories, we continue to increase our focus on water-based and lower-emission chemistries wherever technically feasible. Equally important is durability: solutions that extend the service life of a structure reduce the need for frequent repair and replacement, helping avoid the material and carbon footprint associated with premature deterioration. Supported by sustained R&D investment, our long-term strategy is to deliver solutions that combine performance, longevity and a progressively lower environmental impact.

With the government strongly promoting Make in India and reducing dependence on imported raw materials, how is your company strengthening localisation, domestic sourcing, and self-reliance?
Localisation is core to who we are. Pidilite was built on the conviction that India can create world-class, home-grown solutions, that began with replacing imported adhesives decades ago, and the same philosophy runs through our construction chemicals business today. Make in India is not a recent adjustment for us; it is a long-standing operating principle that current conditions have only made more strategically valuable. We strengthen self-reliance on several fronts. We manufacture across a network of plants within India, keeping production close to demand and reducing exposure to import volatility. We actively develop and qualify domestic suppliers, and where a critical input is still imported, our R&D teams work on indigenous alternatives and innovative formulations that maintain performance while reducing import dependence. Crucially, our innovation itself is local, products developed by Indian R&D teams for Indian conditions of climate, construction practice and use. The combination of domestic manufacturing, domestic sourcing and domestic innovation is what genuine self-reliance looks like, and it allows us to support the country’s infrastructure ambitions with greater resilience and cost stability.