The range as it appears on an Indian project
| Category | Use | Notes for a Mumbai flat |
|---|---|---|
| Interior emulsion, standard tier | General wall finish | Adequate in bedrooms and low-traffic rooms |
| Interior emulsion, premium and luxury | Washable, higher opacity, better sheen control | Corridors, living rooms, strong colours |
| Exterior emulsion | Weather-resistant wall coating | Balconies and external faces; check anti-fungal claim |
| Wood finishes | Interior and exterior timber coatings | Doors, frames, joinery |
| Primers and undercoats | Alkali-resistant and water-based primers | Essential on fresh plaster |
| Wall putty | Substrate levelling | Two coats under every system |
Price bands observed in Mumbai
| Tier | Typical retail band per litre | Where it belongs |
|---|---|---|
| Standard interior emulsion | ₹230 – 360 | Bedrooms, guest rooms |
| Premium interior emulsion | ₹350 – 550 | Most rooms in an owner-occupied flat |
| Luxury washable emulsion | ₹540 – 950 | Corridors, kitchens, dark shades |
| Exterior emulsion | ₹320 – 780 | Balcony and external walls |
| Interior wood coating | ₹450 – 1,100 | Doors and joinery |
| Wall putty | ₹22 – 42 per kg | Substrate preparation |
Market observations, not an official price list. Dealer discounting in Mumbai moves these more than the differences between brands at the same tier.
Colour: the one area where switching brands costs you
Every manufacturer maintains its own colour system and its own tinting machines. A shade reference from one brand is not a standard; it is a proprietary recipe, and a competitor’s attempt at it will be close rather than identical.
- If an overseas architect has specified colours from one brand’s system, keeping that brand avoids a round of approvals and a wall that reads slightly wrong.
- If you are matching an existing painted surface, take a physical sample — a cut piece of skirting or a painted card — to the dealer for machine matching rather than quoting a code.
- Never approve a colour from a printed card alone. Get a litre tinted, paint 2 ft × 2 ft on the actual wall, and look at it in the morning, at four in the afternoon and under your own lamps.
- Record the tint recipe printed on the can label in your handover file. Without it, touching up in year three means matching by eye.
- Sheen affects perceived colour substantially. The same shade in matt and in soft sheen can look like two different colours on adjacent walls.
Specification notes for Mumbai
- Alkali-resistant primer on fresh cement plaster. Mumbai programmes rarely allow plaster the full curing time, and a standard primer over green plaster will saponify and peel.
- Anti-fungal performance is the exterior claim worth checking, because shaded external walls in this city grow algae every monsoon.
- Low-odour and low-VOC options are worth specifying in an occupied flat. Painting a bedroom while a family sleeps two rooms away is a routine constraint here.
- Keep the same brand and tier across a continuous surface, and record which room got what.
- A full system repaint of a 650 sq ft 2BHK in Mumbai at premium tier typically lands at ₹60,000–1,10,000 including labour, ex-GST.
Our independence
Greenbox has no dealership, franchise, applicator agreement or commercial relationship with AkzoNobel, Dulux, or any other paint manufacturer. We specify tier and system on the merits of each project, buy through Mumbai dealers at market rates, and pass through supplier invoices when procuring for clients. The bands above are observations from buying in this market, not manufacturer figures.
Specification summary
| Element | What to write |
|---|---|
| Brand and tier | Both named; tier is the part that matters |
| Colour | Shade code plus an approved on-wall sample |
| Sheen | Stated per room |
| Primer | Alkali-resistant on new plaster |
| Coats | Two minimum, three for strong shades |
| Records | Tint recipe and batch number in the handover file |
| Occupied work | Low-odour product where the family is in residence |
Frequently asked questions
Is Dulux better than Indian paint brands?+
At comparable tiers, the practical difference on a finished wall is small. All the major manufacturers in India make competent products. Where brand continuity matters is colour: if a scheme was specified from one brand’s colour system, staying with it saves a matching exercise.
Can another brand match a Dulux shade exactly?+
Close, not exact. Tinting systems are proprietary and a competitor’s machine match will be a very near approximation. On a single accent wall that is fine; across a flat where two brands meet at a corner, it will show.
Is Greenbox a Dulux applicator or partner?+
No. We are an independent studio with no dealership, franchise or applicator arrangement with any paint company. We specify on merit and buy on the open market.
What does a premium emulsion actually buy over a standard one?+
Better opacity, so fewer coats on strong colours; higher scrub resistance, so a corridor survives fingerprints; and tighter sheen control, so a large wall looks even. On bedrooms the difference is marginal. On corridors and kitchens it is worth the money.
How do I make touch-ups invisible three years later?+
Keep the tint recipe and batch number, store a sealed half-litre of the original tinted paint, and touch up a whole wall plane rather than a patch. Paint fades slightly and unevenly with light, so a patch in the middle of a wall shows even with identical paint.