According to Amit Thatte, Founder of Kataline Limited, the future of road safety lies in creating markings that do more than define lanes. They must communicate clearly with drivers, respond to road conditions and contribute to safer movement for everyone on the road. Road Markings are tools that guide behaviour, improve visibility and help accidents.
What sets Kataline apart is its approach to road safety. With more than 25 years of experience, Kataline has worked across highways, urban roads, accident prone junctions, and high traffic corridors. Over time, the company has evolved from a road marking business into a broader road safety solutions provider.
Its work begins with understanding how people actually behave on roads. Every location has different risks. A high-speed highway behaves differently from a crowded urban intersection. By studying these patterns, Kataline designs markings and safety interventions that help drivers make better decisions in real time.
Building Materials for Indian Roads
To tackle the challenges of extreme heat, monsoons, heavy traffic, and constant braking pressure can quickly damage conventional systems. Kataline has focused on developing materials that last longer and perform more consistently.
Its Cold Applied Plastic systems are designed to resist cracking and maintain visibility over extended periods. The company has also worked on improving thermoplastic formulations so that they perform better under high temperatures and heavy traffic conditions.
Night visibility is another key focus area. Through improved glass bead application techniques, the company aims to ensure that markings remain visible even after prolonged wear from traffic.
Rather than depending only on laboratory testing, Kataline also studies how materials perform on actual roads over time. This helps the company improve products based on real world conditions.
Sustainability Through Better Performance
A marking that lasts longer reduces the need for frequent repainting. This lowers material consumption, reduces traffic disruption, and decreases the environmental impact associated with repeated maintenance work.
The company is also exploring ways to reduce solvent usage, improve application efficiency, and minimise material wastage without compromising performance. Instead of excessive markings, the focus is on using interventions only where they create measurable safety benefits.
Over the next decade, road markings in India will evolve into intelligent safety tools that communicate more clearly with drivers and road users.”— Amit Thatte
Managing Industry Challenges
Like many industries connected to infrastructure and construction, the road marking sector continues to face fluctuations in raw material prices. Resins, pigments, polymers, and reflective materials are all influenced by global supply chains and petrochemical markets.
This creates challenges, especially for long term government and EPC projects where pricing commitments often remain fixed. To manage these uncertainties, Kataline works with diversified suppliers, builds long term partnerships, and continuously optimises formulations to maintain consistency without affecting quality.
Execution Is as Important as the Material
The company follows Indian standards including MoRTH, IRC, and BIS specifications, while also referring to global best practices wherever needed. However, proper execution on site is considered equally important.
Factors such as surface preparation, thickness control, bead application, curing time, and final inspection are carefully monitored during execution. Regular training programs and internal quality checks help ensure that every project meets the required standards.
Different Roads Need Different Solutions
Road safety challenges vary significantly between highways and urban roads. On highways, markings need to remain visible and effective at high speeds, often under difficult weather conditions and during night driving. Long stretches of live traffic and limited closure windows also make execution more demanding.
Urban roads present a completely different challenge. Mixed traffic, pedestrians, cyclists, intersections, and limited space require markings that help organise movement and influence behaviour.
In these environments, road markings are not just about lane separation. They also help improve decision making, calm traffic, and create better visual guidance for road users.
Technology Is Changing Road Safety
Technology is gradually becoming a bigger part of the road marking industry.
Kataline has started integrating tools such as GPS based layouts, geo tagged inspections, and digital project documentation to improve planning and execution accuracy.
The company is also exploring automation in application equipment, AI assisted site assessments, and digital mapping systems for large highway networks.
These technologies are expected to improve consistency, productivity, and decision making, especially in blackspot improvement projects and largescale corridor safety planning.
Kataline is focusing not only on expanding manufacturing and execution capabilities, but also on building integrated safety solutions that combine markings, surface treatments, delineation systems, and traffic calming measures into a single framework.
“The industry is gradually moving away from simple repainting cycles toward performance driven safety systems. Future road infrastructure will increasingly rely on measurable outcomes such as visibility retention, skid resistance, lifecycle performance, and behavioural impact,” says Amit Thatte. Digital road inventories, smart mobility systems, and data driven safety audits are expected to become more important in the coming years.
