1 percent of weight of inputs of all paints by December 2012 from an average 10 percent now.

This is expected to push up input cost by 3-4 percent.

'We would be shifting from inorganic pigments using lead to costly organic pigments, which would push up our costs,' said Harnish D. Juthani, the next president of the association.

Paint makers such as Kansai Nerolac Paints and ICI have already stopped using lead as a raw material.

Juthani said he did not see any immediate move to raise te price of paints, some of which have petroleum mineral spirits as solvents, despite the recent upward swing in crude prices.

'Crude has breached $70 a barrel but we are still comfortable with our input costs,' he said.