1940's - James Wilfred Adamson, founder of the British Paints Organization, embarked on his career as a traveling salesman. Adamson bought his first Oil and Colour business in 1909. By 1917 Adamson was owning paint manufacturing companies in Rhodesia, Canada and the Caribbean. Elsewhere an Englishman, Mr. Hadfield, set up Hadfield's (India) Limited on 17 December, 1923, ...a small paint company in Calcutta. Towards the end of 1947 British Paints acquired Hadfield's (India) Limited and thus British Paints (India) Limited was incorporated in the State of West Bengal. What British Paints, (Holding), UK acquired was a company which at that time produced 150 tonnes of ready mixed stiff paints, varnishes and distempers. Our 1947 sales was a princely RS.25 lakhs, with a total employee strength of 100. The first Managing Director of British Paints was Mr. A. V. Niblett. 1950's - Sales offices were opened in Delhi and Mumbai and in 1951 a depot was started in Guwahati. Sales rose to Rs.6 million in 1952. The Company declared its first dividend and shifted the Head Office to 32, Chowringhee Road, Calcutta. By 1959, modernization of the Howrah Factory was completed and the first resin plant commissioned. With that, the Company entered the synthetics paints market. 1960's - Mr. R. A. Godwin took over as the Chairman & Managing Director in 1962 and initiated further modernization. By 1965 British Paints (Holdings) Limited, UK. was acquired by Celanese Corporation, U.S.A. As a result, the controlling interest of the Company passed on to CELEURO N.V., Holland. In 1969 Celanese Corporation sold their interest in the Indian Company to Berger, Jenson Nicholson Limited, UK. It was the beginning of the legacy of Lewis Berger in India - which the Company would later take forward to enviable heights. 1970's - Mr. D. Madhukar took over as the Managing Director in the year 1973. Under his expert stewardship the Company took the giant strides that made it the fastest growing company in the paint industry. Developments took place in every sphere...new sales offices added, newer products introduced, new markets opened up and new services offered. Sales reached over Rs. 160 million by 1978. 1980's - Mr. Biji K. Kurien takes over as Chief Executive in 1980. From 31 December 1983 the name of the Company was changed to Berger Paints India Limited (BPIL) with unanimous approval of the shareholders. By this time Berger's operations were divsionalised into the Retail Business Line (RBL) and the Industrial Business Line (IBL) in order to better cater to needs of our customers. - Simultaneously, the Company started using the trade name and mark BERGER. From 1983 till date, for more than two decades, the Company has solely used and developed the name and trademark of BERGER and all its other variants in India. BERGER became a household name in India. - During this period many new products were launched like "Luxol Silk" the first premium emulsion in India, Viton Refinish for cars, Bison Acrylic Distemper and Rangoli Acrylic Emulsion. 1990's - BERGER PROLINKS, a service aimed at providing paint and application related information to professionals was introduced marking one of our first steps into painting related services. - In 1991, the controlling stake in the Company was acquired by Mr. K S Dhingra, Mr. G S Dhingra and their associates. At that time the total sales of the Company was Rs 1.15 billion. - 1994 witnessed top management change. Mr. Biji K. Kurien, who was the Managing Director of the Company for the last 14 years, stepped down and Mr. Subir Bose, a 10 year veteran in the Company, took over as the new Managing Director. The sales of the Company touched 2.76 billion by 1995-96. - The latter half of the nineties saw BERGER attain the ISO - 9000 certification (1996) and establishment of BERGER's Quality Management System. - COLOR BANK tinting system was also launched through which the consumer can select from a range of over 5000 colours and which are then made available in minutes. - As part of its expansion program, a new paint-manufacturing unit at Pondicherry was commissioned in early 1997. - A Joint Venture - Berger Becker Coatings Limited, was started in Goa with Becker Industraifarg A. B., Sweden. - "In 1999, Rajdoot Paints Ltd. was merged with the Company. The merger resulted in addition of two new factories at Goa and Sikandrabad, U.P., a joint venture company by the name of Berger Becker Coatings Private Limited, a network of new depots and several new brands." 2000 - The Company proposes to expand its operation through acquisitions, both internally and externally, and strategic partnership, preferably with foreign firms. - Crisil has upgraded the fixed deposit programme of Berger Paints from FAA to FAA . 2001 - Berger Paints India Ltd. has unveiled a new brand promotion strategy which it claims to be the first of its kind in the industry. - Despite a slight increase in sales, the net profit of Berger Paints India Ltd has dropped by around 10 per cent for the half-year ended September 30, 2001. - Berger Paints Ltd and ICI Ltd, have formed a 50:50 joint venture to manufacture auto and industrial coatings at Rishra in West Bengal. 2002 -Acquires 50% stake in Berger Auto & Industrial Coating Ltd. 2003 -BOD decided not to amalgamate Berger Auto & Industrial Coatings Ltd with the company. -Posts 54% growth in the net profit to Rs.14.14cr for the second quarter end. 2004 -Delhi based Punjab National Bank (PNB) and Bangalore-based Vijaya Bank enter into a four-way partnership with Principal Financial of the US and Berger Paints to set up an insurance broking company 2005 - The Motors & Industrial paints business of ICI India with its factory at Rishra, West Bengal was acquired as a 100% subsidiary Berger Auto & Industrial Coatings Limited and then merged with the Company in 2005. 2006 - Berger Paints India Ltd has entered into a Joint Venture Agreement (JV) with Nippon Bee Chemical Co Ltd of Japan for the purpose of formation of a Company for manufacture and sale of coatings for plastic substrates used in automobiles and parts thereof in India. -Berger Paints (India) Ltd has given the Bonus in the Ratio of 3:5 2007 - Berger Paints India Ltd has entered into a Joint Venture Agreement (JV) with Nippon Bee Chemical Co Ltd of Japan for the purpose of formation of a Company for manufacture and sale of coatings for plastic substrates used in automobiles and parts thereof in India. 2008 - Berger Paints India bought Polish firm Bolix SA, a leading provider of external insulation finishing system (EIFS) in the B2B segment. Berger Paints has bought for a net purchase price of $38.6 million (around Rs 1,54.7 crore). Berger Paints India acquired the entire bloc in the Polish firm held by global private equity group Advent International. - Berger Paints India Ltd has informed that Mr. Gerald Kenneth Adams has been appointed as a Director of the Company effective January 30, 2008. 2009 - Berger Paints India Ltd has informed that Mr. Pulak Prasad was appointed an Additional Director (non-whole time) of the Company under Section 260 of the Companies Act, 1956. 2010 - The Company's sales in the year ended 31 March 2010 was Rs 1822.7 crores. - Berger Paints, the paint major, is quite bullish on the expansion front as the company is going to make an investment of Rs 300 crore in order to set up a water-based paint plant at Hindupur in Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh. 2011 -BergerPaints - Board recommended Final Dividend of Re. 0.80 per share (40%) of face value of Rs. 2/- each 2012 -Berger enters new chemicals business - Berger Paints introduces new products -Berger Paints gains over 2% on stake hike by UK Paints 2013 -Berger Paints acquired architectural operations of Sherwin Williams Paints. 2014 -Berger Paints Inaugurates New Facility in Hindupur, Andhra Pradesh. 2015 -Berger Paints - Berger Paints signs MOU with the Russian Government -Berger Paints India Ltd - Company's Powder Coating plant at Maharashtra has commenced commercial production 2016 -Berger Paints India Wins 1st Prize in NECA, 2016 2017 -Berger Paints India Ltd commenced commercial production of its paint and putty plant at Nalbari, Assam. -Berger Paints completes acquisition of Saboo Coatings. -Commencement of commercial production of Company's Decorative paints production at Naltali plant, Assam. -Commencement of commercial production of Company's Automotive and General Industrial paints production at Jejuri. 2019 -Berger Paints India Shines at Sammie 2019 With Silver Award. -Berger Paints India wins the CII National Award for Excellence in Water Management 2019. 2020 -Gold Award bagged by our Naltali Unit in National Occupational Health & Safety Awards 2020. -CII Environmental Best Practices Award 2020. 2021 -VVN Plant has received the Platinum award in the 10th Exceed Environment Award 2021. -Jejuri Plant has been awarded the Gold award under Apex India Best Fire Safety Measures Awards 2021. 2023 -The Company has issued Bonus Shares in the Ratio of 1:5. -"Company awarding media mandate to dentsu X"". -The Company has that, its state-of-the-art, fully automated manufacturing facility at Sandila, Plot No. B4, B5 Industrial Area, Sandila Phase I, Sandila, District: Hardoi, Uttar Pradesh - 241 204 has commenced its commercial production. 2024 -The Company signed a technology agreement with Ramkrishna Mission Vidyamandir, Belur for exploration of pilot-scale and subsequent industrial-scale production of green ammonia by electrocatalytic method without using green hydrogen.