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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsFix Now →Kuldip Singh Dhingra and his brother Gurbachan acquired a controlling stake in Berger Paints from the UB Group in 1991, according to the company’s FY 2023–24 annual report. The decision story began earlier: in Sonu Bhasin’s biography excerpt, Kuldip recalls seeing news in early 1990 that Berger was for sale and deciding he wanted to buy it. The brothers were not newcomers to paint; their family already operated a paint distributorship, factories and the Rajdoot business.
What the “shopkeeper” description leaves out
The word “shopkeeper” captures the biographical framing of Kuldip Singh Dhingra’s rise, but it can make the Berger acquisition sound like a leap from an unrelated trade. Berger’s own history says the Dhingra family was already in paints: it had a distributorship in Amritsar, factories around Delhi, and a paint business under the Rajdoot name. The acquisition was a move within an industry the brothers knew, not an entry into paintmaking from scratch.
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Berger’s FY 2023–24 annual report credits Kuldip with marketing and sales expertise, while Gurbachan looked after production and technology. That division of strengths helps explain why an established paint company could fit their experience.
From the decision to the acquisition
In a publisher-hosted excerpt from Sonu Bhasin’s biography, Kuldip recalls reading that Vijay Mallya was selling Berger and immediately wanting to buy it. The excerpt places this decision in early 1990. It also recounts that the brothers had discussed acquiring an established paint business and saw Berger as professionally managed, with a good team already in place.
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That recollection is the decision narrative, not the date Berger gives for the completed acquisition. The company’s FY 2023–24 annual report says the Dhingras acquired a controlling stake from the UB Group in 1991. Keeping those dates distinct avoids turning a recollected decision into a transaction date.
Why buy Berger rather than keep scaling Rajdoot?
The biography excerpt presents the brothers with two paths: continue developing Rajdoot or acquire a larger, established operation. It puts Rajdoot’s approximate annual scale at ₹10–15 crore at the time, and says growing it substantially would have demanded Kuldip’s time and attention. Berger, by contrast, already had professional management and a team the brothers believed could keep the business operating.
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Kuldip’s account, as reproduced in the excerpt, makes that expectation plain: “I believed that once we bought the company, apne aap chalti rahegi [it will run by itself].” This is a statement of what he believed about Berger’s management, not evidence that the acquisition was effortless or risk-free. The strategic contrast was between building Rajdoot further and taking control of an established company whose people and systems were already in place.
How Berger describes the Dhingras’ impact
Berger’s annual report describes the brothers as hands-on without micromanaging and says their leadership helped the company remain professionally run. It identifies several priorities in their stewardship:
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- Focus on decorative paints while strengthening the industrial paints business.
- Expand in India and overseas.
- Invest in capacity and capabilities.
- Build an enabling work culture.
The same company-authored history reports sales of ₹1.15 billion in 1991 and ₹2.76 billion by 1995–96. Those figures show growth over the period in Berger’s account; they do not establish that the acquisition or any single strategic choice alone caused it.
The biography behind the story
Sonu Bhasin’s Unstoppable: Kuldip Singh Dhingra and the Rise of Berger Paints is a 336-page Penguin Random House India book published July 15, 2019 (ISBN 9789353056001). The publisher’s excerpt recounts Kuldip’s decision story and attributes the quotation about buying Berger to him. The page does not give an interview date or identify a separate recording, so the words are best understood as Kuldip’s recollection as presented in the book, rather than as a separately verified interview transcript.
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Where the brothers stand in Berger’s history
Berger’s FY 2024–25 annual report lists Kuldip Singh Dhingra as Chairman-Emeritus and says he has been a director since 1991; it lists Gurbachan Singh Dhingra as Vice-Chairman-Emeritus and a director since 1993. The company profile lists the same emeritus roles. The FY 2024–25 report also says the family has been continuously in the paint business since 1898. These are company-reported roles and history, and titles can change.
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