In 1991, a paint shop owner from Amritsar paid ₹16 crore

for a company he had never audited. He spent maybe five

percent of the negotiation actually talking about the deal.

The rest was drinks and horses at the Bombay Derby.

That investment is worth over ₹50,000 crore today.

But this story doesn't start in 1991. It starts in 1760,

in London, with a German immigrant who changed his name,

accidentally perfected a formula for blue paint, and sold

it to the armies of Europe.

From there it winds through a colonial factory in Howrah,

a Soviet export empire that collapsed overnight, a liquor

baron who didn't care about paint, a CEO who went for a

morning walk in Krakow and came back with an entirely

different business model and ultimately to a battle for

India's walls that is still being fought today.

This is the Berger Paints story. Two hundred and sixty-five

years of colour, capital, and survival.

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Dhanda is India's first AI-native long-form podcast on

Indian business history. One company at a time.

dhanda.site

India has been building business empires for centuries.

The stories are extraordinary. Nobody has told them

the way they deserve.

Dhanda is India's first AI-native long-form podcast on

Indian business history. One company at a time. Deeply

researched. Narrative. Unhurried.

This episode is three minutes. It tells you exactly what

Dhanda is, why it exists, and what's coming.

Episode 1 drops next.