20 Microns is India’s largest manufacturer of micronized industrial minerals - essentially, it grinds rocks into powders so fine and so precisely engineered that they change how paint spreads, how plastic flows and how concrete waterproofs itself. Founded in 1987 as a small trader of calcium carbonate, the company spent nearly four decades moving steadily upstream: first into mining its own raw materials, then into sub-micron and nano-sized processing, and finally into the specialty chemical additives that turn simple mineral powders into high-performance functional ingredients. The recurring approach that explains everything else is a relentless push to replace what Indian factories used to import - by inventing a local, cheaper, often better version, and then selling it as part of a broad “solution bucket” that no narrow competitor can match. # Business segments Three engines at different stages - a foundational industrial-minerals cash cow that dominates Indian paint and plastics, a specialty-chemicals platform built on top of it that sells performance rather than just powder, and a young retail division that takes the same mineral know-how directly to the mason and the farmer. ## 1. Industrial minerals: the bedrock that feeds everything else **The company mines, grinds and ships over 450,000 tonnes a year of non-metallic minerals - kaolin, calcium carbonate, talc, barytes and a dozen others - to virtually every major paint, plastic and rubber factory in India, with captive mines and a multi-plant network that competitors find hard to replicate.** - **Nine plants, placed near customers or ports** - manufacturing sites in Gujarat, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh sit either next to key customer hubs or close to raw-material sources and export gateways, cutting logistics cost and delivery time. - **A “solution bucket,” not a single product** - the portfolio spans more than a dozen minerals in multiple grades, which means a paint or polymer customer can source nearly all its functional fillers from one supplier, reducing the customer’s own vendor complexity and making the relationship sticky. - **Toll and contract manufacturing keep the model light** - regular, run-of-the-mill products are outsourced to toll and contract manufacturers, while the company’s own plants focus on advanced-technology grades and final processing, preserving capital for where it matters most. - **Deeply embedded with the giants** - the company is a Level 1 supplier to every leading paint and coating manufacturer in India, including Asian Paints, Berger, Kansai Nerolac and AkzoNobel, relationships built over decades and reinforced by a local sales team with scientific backgrounds who co-create formulations rather than just taking orders. ## 2. Functional additives and specialty chemicals: performance, not just powder **This is where the company stops selling ground rock and starts selling what the rock can do - matting agents, flame retardants, wax-based processing aids and opacifiers that replace imported chemicals at a lower cost, all born in the company’s own government-recognised R&D labs.** - **R&D is the factory for this segment** - two application-testing centres in Vadodara, staffed by 36 scientists and technicians, have built a pipeline that launched 18 new products in FY25 alone, with the full journey from concept to commercial product taking one to one-and-a-half years. - **Import substitution is the commercial logic** - products like micronized waxes, lubricants and processing aids for PVC and polymer industries were developed specifically to replace traditional imports, giving Indian customers a local alternative that is both cheaper and tailored to their formulations. - **Branded lines create pricing power** - rather than selling generic chemicals, the company markets named product families: Hypertherm for cooling-effect coatings, Amorphlos for anti-blocking in polyethylene films, Fusyl Series for rheology control, each solving a specific customer problem and commanding a premium over commodity minerals. - **The nano subsidiary extends the reach** - 20 Microns Nano Minerals Limited takes the parent’s sub-micron expertise down to nano-scale chemistry, serving niche sectors from oil-well drilling to poultry feed, and adding a layer of customer overlap that deepens the group’s wallet share. ## 3. Retail: construction chemicals and mineral fertilisers **The same mineral science that serves Asian Paints also waterproofs a house in Surat and boosts a farmer’s yield in Gujarat - two young B2C brands, 20 MCC and Minfert, that bypass the industrial middleman and build a direct relationship with the end user.** - **Waterproofing that comes from minerals, not petrochemicals** - the 20 MCC range (Tigersil, Nanosil, Cracksil and others) uses mineral-based technology to create two-in-one protection-and-waterproofing solutions for concrete, a proposition that was relatively new to the Indian market when the division began commercial sales in FY17. - **A German joint venture adds technical heft** - the Sievert 20 Microns JV, formed in FY25 with Germany’s Sievert Baustoffe, brings the hahne and strasser brands into local production, targeting tile adhesives and advanced construction chemicals with a planned capacity ramp-up to 22,000 tonnes by FY29. - **Dealers and e-commerce, not just factories** - the retail division reaches customers through a network of over 170 dealers and 25 key accounts, plus direct sales via dedicated websites and Amazon, a distribution muscle the core B2B business never needed to build. # Group structure and partners **A family-led group with a deliberately layered structure - domestic subsidiaries for nano-materials and construction chemicals, international mining and trading arms in Malaysia, Vietnam, Sharjah and now China, and two German joint ventures that bring European technology into Indian manufacturing.** - **Promoter-driven continuity** - the company is led by Mr. Rajesh C. Parikh (Chairman & Managing Director, Mechanical Engineering and MBA in Finance) and Mr. Atil C. Parikh (CEO & Managing Director, Chemical Engineering and MBA from California), with a group-wide workforce of over 800 people. - **20 Microns Nano Minerals Limited** - the near-wholly-owned R&D and specialty-chemicals engine, operating nine manufacturing units and serving sectors from agrochemicals to oil-well drilling, and the home of the DSIR-recognised R&D facility at Waghodia. - **German JVs for technology access** - Dorfner 20 Microns (45% stake) sells coloured quartz products across India, Asia and Africa; Sievert 20 Microns (40% stake) produces construction chemicals under German brands, with Dorfner holding the controlling 55% stake in the Dorfner JV. - **Global trading footprint** - subsidiaries in Vietnam (CaCO₃ manufacturing, currently trading), Sharjah (mineral trading for export markets) and a newly incorporated step-down entity in Guizhou, China, extend the group’s sourcing and distribution reach across the Middle East, Southeast Asia and East Asia.