Kaushal Mehta, Managing Director, Walplast Products Pvt. Ltd., shares his perspective on the evolving building materials industry in India and the opportunities emerging across specialised construction categories. He discusses the growing importance of tile adhesives and waterproofing, the role of technology and R&D in developing high-performance building solutions, and the need to balance business growth with quality and responsible manufacturing. Mehta also explains how Walplast’s strategic investment in Vura Bau Chemie complements its existing capabilities and strengthens its portfolio across specialised construction solutions. Looking ahead, he outlines how strategic investments, innovation, manufacturing capabilities and market development will contribute to Walplast’s vision of building a comprehensive construction solutions platform.
1. What is driving Walplast’s move towards building a broader and more comprehensive construction solutions portfolio?
The construction industry is undergoing a significant shift, with customers increasingly looking beyond individual products and seeking solutions that can address different requirements across the building process. As construction practices become more sophisticated, there is a growing need for materials that offer consistent quality, durability and performance across different applications.
At Walplast, our objective is to respond to this evolution by building a more comprehensive portfolio of construction solutions. Expanding into complementary categories allows us to address a wider range of customer requirements while also strengthening our presence across the building materials value chain. We believe this approach will help us create greater value for customers and build a more resilient and diversified business over the long term.
2. How does the majority investment in Vura Bau Chemie strengthen Walplast’s larger growth strategy?
The majority investment in Vura Bau Chemie is an important step in our broader strategy of expanding into complementary and specialised areas of the construction materials industry. Vura brings a differentiated portfolio across tile adhesives, waterproofing and stone care, giving us the opportunity to strengthen our presence in existing areas while also entering a new specialised category.
The investment also brings additional technical expertise and capabilities into the Walplast ecosystem. When combined with our existing strengths, it gives us a stronger position to explore new markets, customer segments and applications. In this way, the investment is not just about portfolio expansion; it is about building capabilities that support our long-term vision of becoming a more comprehensive construction solutions provider.
3. What specific synergies do you see between Walplast and Vura Bau Chemie, and how can these benefit customers?
There is strong complementarity between the two businesses. Vura brings specialised expertise in tile adhesives, waterproofing and stone care, supported by technical knowledge, customer understanding and entrepreneurial agility. Walplast, in turn, brings established manufacturing capabilities, R&D strength, extensive distribution, market experience and an international presence.
Bringing these strengths together creates opportunities to expand specialised product categories and make them accessible to a wider customer base. Walplast can provide the infrastructure and market reach required to support this expansion, while Vura’s specialised capabilities can further strengthen our overall product portfolio.
Ultimately, our objective is to create greater value for customers by offering a broader range of quality, performance-oriented construction solutions while continuing to build on the respective strengths of both organisations.
4. With India investing heavily in housing and infrastructure, how do you see the construction materials market evolving over the next few years?
India’s continued investment in housing, infrastructure and urban development is creating significant opportunities across the construction materials ecosystem. However, the opportunity extends beyond volume growth. The nature of demand is also evolving as customers become increasingly conscious of quality, durability, application performance and long-term value.
This shift is expected to drive greater adoption of specialised, application-specific and factory-manufactured solutions across different stages of construction. Categories such as tile adhesives, waterproofing and other performance-oriented building materials are likely to gain prominence as awareness of their role in improving construction quality and efficiency increases.
For companies in the sector, this presents an opportunity to move beyond capacity expansion and focus on solutions that address evolving construction requirements. At Walplast, we intend to participate in this growth through portfolio expansion, innovation, consistent quality and strong execution.
5. Walplast already has a presence across international markets. How important will global expansion be to the company’s future growth?
International markets will remain an important part of Walplast’s long-term growth journey. We currently export to more than 23 countries, which has helped us develop an understanding of different markets and build a foundation for further international expansion.
Going forward, our approach will be to identify markets where our products and capabilities can address relevant customer requirements and where we can build sustainable business opportunities. The objective is not simply to increase geographical presence, but to develop markets in a structured manner while maintaining consistent product quality and service standards.
The addition of specialised categories through the Vura investment can also create opportunities to take a broader portfolio of construction solutions to international markets over time. We see international growth as a complement to our domestic expansion and an important part of building a stronger, more diversified business.
6. As Walplast expands its portfolio and markets, what will be the key priorities in ensuring sustainable growth?
As we expand, our focus will remain on maintaining the right balance between growth, innovation, quality and operational excellence. Building scale is important, but sustainable growth requires strong fundamentals, including consistent manufacturing, continuous R&D, dependable distribution and a clear understanding of customer needs.
We will continue to strengthen our existing categories while developing the newer segments that we enter through strategic initiatives such as the Vura investment. At the same time, innovation will remain important as construction requirements continue to evolve and customers look for better-performing and more specialised solutions.
Our larger vision is to establish Walplast as a comprehensive construction solutions platform with a wider portfolio, stronger capabilities and a growing presence across domestic and international markets. We want our growth to be driven by genuine customer value, innovation and long-term capability building rather than short-term expansion.
