DIC India is fundamentally a manufacturer of printing inks - the liquids that put words on newspapers and pictures on food packets - and it has been doing this in India since 1947, when it began as Coates of India in Kolkata. It became part of DIC Corporation, Japan, one of the world’s largest ink makers with operations in over 60 countries, through a series of stake transfers completed by 2006, and today operates as a 71.75%-owned subsidiary listed on Indian stock exchanges. The recurring approach that explains everything else is a parent-company playbook: it takes technology developed by DIC Corporation in Japan, adapts it for Indian customers through its own R&D centres, and sells premium, application-specific products to printers and packaging converters on the strength of consistency and technical support rather than price.
Business segments
Two engines that feed the same packaging and printing supply chain - a dominant inks business built across every print process, and a smaller adhesives business that bonds the layers those inks are printed on.
1. Printing inks: the company’s core, covering every surface and print method
A full-range ink manufacturer selling into packaging, publishing and metal decoration, with a product catalogue deep enough to serve a snack wrapper, a newspaper and a beverage can from the same stable.
- Every print process, one supplier - the portfolio spans gravure and flexo inks for flexible packaging, offset inks for books and commercial print, UV and LED-cure inks for high-speed packaging lines, news inks for newspapers, and metal deco inks for cans and tubes, so a converter printing on plastic, paper or metal can source from a single company.
- Packaging is the growth engine - the business was deliberately reoriented towards packaging at the end of 2019, and now serves the FMCG sector as its largest customer base, with premium flexible-packaging inks sold through a mix of aggressive share gains on new product series and long-term contracts with large converters.
- Food safety as a product line, not an afterthought - the company has built a range of toluene-free, mineral oil-free, low-migration and PVC-free inks compliant with Swiss Ordinance and IS 15495:2020 standards, launched Food Packaging Sale Inks for flexibles in 2022, and developed water-based systems that cut VOC emissions by more than 80%, turning tightening regulation into a product advantage.
- Japanese R&D, Indian application - a standing Technical Collaboration Agreement with DIC Corporation, Japan, gives it ongoing access to global formulations, manufacturing know-how and brand names, while two Indian R&D centres in Bengaluru and Noida - both recognised by the government’s scientific research department - handle indigenisation and prototyping for local customers.
- Sold on technical service, not just price - the company competes against a fragmented field of organised and unorganised players by running a direct sales and technical service model, digitised in 2023, with an integrated CRM system and a dealer network that reaches printers and converters across India, none of whom accounts for more than 10% of revenue.
2. Lamination adhesives and barrier coatings: the bond that holds packaging together
A smaller but tightly coupled business making the glues and coatings that laminate flexible packaging layers - sold to the same customers who buy the inks.
- Adhesives for every packaging structure - the portfolio runs from solvent-based adhesives for high-speed lamination of metalised films and foil structures (used in everything from hair-dye sachets to frozen-food pouches) to solvent-free systems that can run at up to 375 metres per minute on polyethylene structures, plus a specialist solar-adhesive range that bonds photovoltaic backsheets for 25-plus years.
- Barrier coatings that replace a layer of plastic - the company’s coatings control the passage of oil, moisture and oxygen through packaging, which lets converters remove one film layer and one adhesive layer, producing lighter, more recyclable laminates; the Paslim range of barrier adhesives adds gas-barrier stability and food-safety assurance.
- Made in a dedicated global-spec plant - the adhesives business runs out of a state-of-the-art plant in Bengaluru, described as one of the foremost lamination-adhesive facilities in India, and is supported by a separate technology-import agreement with DIC Corporation for polyester, polyurethane and poly-urea resins used in captive production.
- Pricing pressure from competitors - the packaging segment products like adhesives saw aggressive pricing actions to maintain share by select industry sections, which makes the technical tie-in with the inks business - where the same sales force calls on the same converters - an important stabiliser.
Manufacturing and supply chain
Four plants, a closed fifth, and an operating model built around solvent recovery, captive solar power and a “cost-to-serve” footprint.
- Four active plants, each with a distinct job - the Saykha plant in Gujarat (a greenfield “master plant” capitalised in March 2023) makes liquid inks; Noida makes liquid inks, news colour and flexo inks; Ahmedabad makes news black and offset aquatic inks; and Bengaluru makes adhesives and PU resins; the Kolkata plant, which once made liquid and offset inks, was under the process of closure and received legal permission for closure in March 2024.
- Solvent recovery built into the line - an internal solvent-recovery plant captured roughly 84% of solvent from process waste in one measured year, recovering 113 tonnes out of 135 tonnes of waste, which cuts both raw-material cost and emissions.
- Captive solar to power the plants - the company holds a 5.1% stake in a renewable-energy special-purpose vehicle and procures solar power for its Noida plants under the Electricity Act, with a rooftop solar system also commissioned at Noida in December 2022.
- Safety as a measurable system - all plants run integrated ISO 45001, 14001 and 9001 certifications, the company has recorded zero reportable incidents for five consecutive years as of 2025, and the Bengaluru site won a Karnataka state safety award in 2023.
Group structure and partners
A listed Indian subsidiary of DIC Corporation, Japan, with no subsidiaries of its own, drawing technology, raw materials and board-level direction from the parent group.
- Ownership chain - the immediate holding company is DIC Asia Pacific Pte Ltd, Singapore, and the ultimate parent is DIC Corporation, Japan; the stake was consolidated under DIC Asia Pacific in 2001 and transferred from Sun Chemical to DIC Asia Pacific in 2006.
- Technology flows from parent to subsidiary - two standing agreements with DIC Corporation cover the ongoing transfer of technology for all current and future printing inks and lamination adhesives, plus a separate agreement to import technology for polyester, polyurethane and poly-urea resins used captively; the company pays royalties to Japan in return.
- Group-sourced inputs and cross-sales - the company buys goods from DIC Corporation, DIC Asia Pacific and fellow subsidiaries such as DIC Fine Chemicals and Nantong DIC Color, and sells to fellow subsidiaries including DIC Australia and Sun Chemical Russia, with a management-fee income arrangement also in place with group entities.
- Parent-nominated directors on the board - non-executive directors from the DIC network sit on the board; the most recent appointment, in March 2025, is the Regional Business Product Director of DIC Asia Pacific, who also holds directorships in seven other DIC entities across the Asia-Pacific region.