Set up in 1942 as a partnership firm by four Gujarati friends, Champaklal Choksey, Chimanlal Choksi, Suryakant Dani, and Arvind Vakil, Asian Paints has taken on entrenched multinationals as well as local competitors to emerge as India’s largest paints company.
There are several reasons why a biography on Champaklal Choksey, one of the four founding partners of Asian Paints, merits attention and checks several boxes:
✓ It is simultaneously a book on Asian Paints, one of India’s legendary desi companies that has dared to become a multinational.
✓ Asian Paints is a rare case of a company owned by multiple promoter families and run by a professional management team from the late 1960s; even today 3 of the 4 families continue barring, alas, the Choksey family.
✓ Asian Paints is one of those rare companies in India which have consistently clocked 10 per cent revenue growth and 15 per cent return on capital every year for 10 consecutive years.
✓ Its share price has compounded over 20,000 times since 1982, when it IPO’d. If you had invested ₹10,000 in 1990, in 34 years, your investment would have grown to ₹1.03 crore today, a return of 103,357% from 1990 to 2024, with CAGR of 22.6%.
✓ It has been one of the most sought-after employers on B-school campuses across India for decades
✓ Most of all, it has created a culture of excellence and accountability, married to prudence and enlightened self-interest in every aspect of its functioning.
Born on 28 August, 1916, Champaklal Hiralal Choksey is often cited as the company’s primary visionary and co-founder, verily the first among equals. Therefore, a biography on this business leader, a genuine pathbreaking pioneer of Indian industry, is a welcome addition to the sparse collection of Indian business history.
The author, Anupam Gupta, a chartered accountant, investment research consultant and podcast host, has written two other non-fiction books. His experience as an analyst and investment researcher in leading brokerages for over two decades in equities, plus as the host of a leading business podcast, Paisa Vasool, makes him well-suited to embark on such an admirable endeavour.
Champaklal Choksey was fondly called Champak Seth or CHC within Asian Paints and Champakbhai in the paints industry. His story mirrors the story of Asian Paints, which started in 1942 in a garage in South Bombay (Mumbai today) to the 800-pound gorilla in the paint industry that it is today. In just 25 years, he and his three other co-founders raced to the Numero Uno slot, a position it has not vacated till today. The tribute for this achievement goes to the business acumen, far-sighted vision and unrelenting focus on key fundamentals on which they never compromised. The book starts with the dramatic decision by CHC to sell off his stake in 1997. On July 31, 1997, he sold his holding, then valued at ₹130 crore for his 9 per cent, to two large FIIs (foreign institutional investors). Sadly, he passed away that day itself at Pune. The transaction was cancelled a few weeks later. Thereafter his son, Atul, sold his stake to ICI (UK), a decision which caused a storm and regulators, other Asian Paints founding families, et al, thwarted the attempt.
The question then on everyone’s minds was – why did CHC sell his stake in the company that he himself founded and had spent virtually his entire life building into a formidable company?
This is what Arindam builds his book around – to understand the CHC persona and the man behind the legend. The book is divided into five parts -- Part 1- The Early Years; Part 2- Breaking all the rules; Part 3- Racing Ahead; Part 4- Spreading Wings; Part 5 – Leaving on a high
The beginnings
Part 1 talks about the evolution of industry and business in Bombay, of CHC’s father, and of CHC’s fiery temperament even as a child and the energy, fearlessness and physical strength that he carried into his later years. His easy-going and friendly nature endeared him to his employees and friends. A man who enjoyed living life, he was a foodie and avid sports lover. The book details the decline in family fortunes during his initial 20 years, his personality characteristics that were fundamental in his establishing and building up Asian Paints too.
His bitter falling out with his father In 1936 cemented ties with his friends, including subsequently his co-founder, Suryakant Chandulal Dani, who helped him tide over this tough period. It then moves to their early start as paint dealers and subsequent move into paint manufacture, and addition of two other co-founders, Chimanlal Choksi and Arvind Vakil (also Suryakant’s brother-in-law.
CHC’s initiatives in organising the Indian paint industry and his affable relations with his competitors, including foreign owned companies are why he was considered an industry statesman.
The writer also talks how his family, especially the women, played a formative role in his life. Despite two marriages and falling foul of his family after the second marriage, CHC managed to repair relations with his own family later. He also espoused transparency within the family and had monthly meetings with his sons and their wives.
Dealer relations and outside professional talent
Part two looks at how CHC and his co-founders identified the market gaps, fundamental changes they made in paint distribution and going mass market, plus the key decision to hire professional talent outside of personal circles. The company’s network of loyal dealers to whom it sold direct, and its good relations with the vast network of dealers was critical. At the same time, the founding families ensured that personal relationships and commercial considerations were kept miles apart. (When I was Depot Executive at Surat, the then MD, Atul Choksey – CHC’s son – visited officially. Many dealers knew the family and him personally, but he made it clear to a couple of dealers, in my presence, that matters of discounts or commissions, were to be discussed directly with me and not with him). In fact, page 76 has a conversation between an errant dealer and CHC
Arvindbhai’s death in 1960 emphasised the need for building an effective line of talent and Asian Paints was among the first to go beyond friends and family to recruit qualified professionals from top institutions. Folks like D Madhukar, K Rajagopalachari, P.M. Murty (the first non family MD/CEO), Jairam Nadkarni, KG Kudva, CJ Bhumkar, CV Abraham, Bipin Jhaveri, BR Trivedi, V Veeraraghavan, to name a few, became prominent figures.
Managing growth and building moats
The type of talent Asian Paints hired from 1968 made it a veritable CEO factory. P.M. Murty (pg 96) says, ”Champakbhai… was willing to spend money and back the right people for his vision…he was looking for passionate people.” All this helped build a merit-led culture. Also, even if one left Asian Paints, in many ways, Asian Paints never left them. Apart from talent, technology was an area where Asian Paints was a pioneer. In 1969, V Veeraraghavan and team used computers effectively; it had an early impact in inventory management. It soon worked its magic on demand forecasting, distribution and consequently, working capital management. He also ensured that key family members had adequate responsibilities to chart their own destinies by helping spawn other companies. CHC’s logic was explained by son Amit (pg 112), “Once you get married, the kitchen and business should be separate and only then you will stay together and not step on each other’s toes.”’
Looking beyond
Part 4 of the book ‘deals with the expansion with the paints business through multiple plants, related products, backward integration in raw materials, as also overseas launches and collaborations with foreign companies. The expansions also highlighted CHC’s thinking on minimising labour early o. “To him, the visible cost of a large workforce was only a part of the story: the invisible costs were much higher and merited an aggressive trade-off.”
Ergo, manpower productivity, improved factory design, better production methods and operating practices and manufacturing technology were essential parts of any new expansion.
The exit
Part 5, the final section - the exit This part discusses how Asian Paints turned a master in branding and marketing and became an iconic, trusted consumer brand. In the 1950s, RK Laxman, the renowned cartoonist, was approached to create a mascot and he conjured up a mischievous boy, holding a paint brush with his hair all messed up, standing next to a paint can. The company ran a contest and the winning name was ‘Gattu’. It was the television era of the 1980s and the post-liberalisation consumerism of the 1990s that saw Asian Paints become a true marketing company under the stewardship of Bharat Puri (my senior from IIMA). In tandem with Ogilvy and Mather, Asian Paints created memorable taglines and ad campaigns that transformed its image.
The advent of tinting machines under the brand name, Colour World, with over 1,000 shades, was another transformative initiative. The last chapter – 12- finally throws light on why CHC sold his stake. Alternative perspectives are presented – fallout over expansion, funding and diversification or over transition. The Chokseys departure did not have any material impact on the company. Asian Paints has continued to grow and outperform its peers for years together convincingly. It just shows how prescient CHC was when he looked at building an institution that outlasted the founders. When another paint company director asked CHC how to create a successful company (pg 120) his reply was vintage. “You have to decide whether you want to do well, or you want the company to do well.”
In that sense, CHC was a pioneer, a visionary and a true industry statesman. This book gives a first-hand idea of this towering and colourful personality along with a ringside view of his best-known creation, Asian Paints. And that company has not just outlasted him, but also grown explosively in the manner that he would have wanted. To that end, his legacy endures. Chandu Nair
The reviewer is an IIMA alumnus of the 1983 batch and an entrepreneur, advisor and angel investor