Four friends, Champaklal Choksi, Chimnalal Choksi, Arvind Vakil & Suryakant Dani came together in 1942 and established a partnership firm which they called Asian Oil and Paint Company Pvt Ltd. The name was changed to ‘Asian Paints’ and it became a public limited company in 1973. Asian Paints brand attracted many people through its mascot ‘Gattu’, which was created by the cartoonist R.K Laxman in 1954. A boy with a part of his black hair dangling over his right eye, holding a paint brush became an iconic symbol among Indian brands. Gattu was phased out in 2002 as a part of re-branding exercise.
