Kolkata, Jun 8 (IANS): Despite slowdown in automotive sector, the paint makers remained optimistic about the industry's growth in the current fiscal, an official said on Friday.

"We expect economy to do better under the regime of newly elected government and paints industry too is expected to post marginally higher growth rate both in terms of volume and value for the current fiscal, compared to what had been achieved in 2018-19," Indian Paint Association's immediate Past President Abhijit Roy said on the sidelines of its annual general meeting.

In 2018-19, the industry clocked 12 per cent growth in volume terms while in value term, it was 15 per cent.

The automotive paints account for about 15 per cent of the total paints industry and for 45 per cent of the industrial segment, he said.

Majority of the paints demand comes from original equipment manufacturers in automobile and the two wheeler segment has been the silver lining in auto segment which is "growing", according to paint makers.

Protective coatings demand remained strong, he said. Recently, coating companies reduced oil-based emulsions price between 2-3 per cent after crude price eased.

The Rs 50,000 crore paints industry has not taken any call about price reduction for protective and decorative paints price, though it had raised prices between 5-7 per cent across categories in the last fiscal.