Ashwin Dani Who Turned Asian Paints From A Small Company In Garage To Market Leader, Passed Away

India's largest paint manufacturing company, Asian Paints' co-founder Ashwin Suryakant Dani is no more. After a brief illness, Dani who was associated with the company since 1968 died at the age of 79 years on September 28. The share price of Asian Paints fell by 4% on Thursday.

In its regulatory filing, Asian Paints said, "With deep regret, we inform you that Ashwin Dani, Non-Executive Director of the Company, left for heavenly abode today, on account of brief illness."

"Ashwin Dani will always be remembered for his significant contributions to the company," Asian Paints added.

Ashwin was born to Suryakant Dani who was one of the co-founders of Asian Paints. His father along with Champaklal Choksey, Chimanlal Choksi, and Arvind Vakil founded Asian Paints in Gaiwadi, Girgaon, Mumbai in the year 1942. The company's operations started in a garage. Now, Asian Paints is 81 years old, and Ashwin has been associated with the company for more than half of his lifetime.

Dani has been associated with the Company since 1968 and has been a strong force in heralding the company to technological excellence. He joined the company's Board in 1970. He held the position of Vice Chairman and Managing Director of the company from 1998 to 2009.

From 2009, Dani continued on the Board as the Non - non-executive director and vice Chairman of the Board and the company. However, from 2018 to 2021 he held the position of Chairman of the Board and Asian Paints.

Ashwin was also among the top 50 richest Indians.

He took his Bachelor of Science degree from the Institute of Chemical Technology, University of Mumbai, while he also took his Bachelor of Science and Technology in Pigment, Paints and Varnish degree from UDCT. Later on, he finished his master's degree in Polymer Science from the University of Akron, Ohio, and a diploma in Color Science from Rensselaer Polytechnic, Troy, New York.

Although Asian Paints was not his first job! Dani began his professional career in 1967 as a development chemist with Inmont Corp (now BASF) in Detroit. He later became part of Asian Paints in 1968.

At Asian Paints, Dani took on many challenging tasks for transforming the company. He was responsible for the introduction of many products through Asian Paints for the first time in the country. He also introduced the computerised colour-matching method in the Indian paint industry. Furthermore, Dani was actively involved in the 50:50 joint venture between Asian Paints Limited and PPG Industries, and he was also on the board of directors of the JV since its inception in 1997.

On Thursday, Asian Paints share price fell by 3.97% to settle at Rs 3169.60 apiece on BSE. The company's market cap is over Rs 3.04 lakh crore, making it the largest paint company in India in terms of market share.