The thermoplastic road marking paint price in Indian official rate lists is ₹63 to ₹95 a kg for the material (Kerala PWD market rates, October 2026) and ₹533 to ₹890 a square metre once laid 2.5 mm thick with glass beads, which is about ₹49.50 to ₹82.70 a sq ft. The low end is Chhattisgarh’s road SOR of 15 June 2026 and the high end Tamil Nadu’s SOR 2025-26, both excluding GST.

A supplier quotes thermoplastic by the kilogram. The tender pays for it by the square metre. Most state schedules count the compound in litres. Bidders lose money in the gap between those three units, so here they sit side by side, each with its date and item number.

Thermoplastic road marking paint price per kg

Kerala PWD publishes local market rates every quarter by district, and its October to December 2026 lists, published between 6 and 12 October 2026, carry thermoplastic paint and glass beads by the kg. The other schedules below are older and count the compound by the litre.

Source (date) Thermoplastic compound Glass beads, ₹ per kg
Kerala PWD LMR, Thiruvananthapuram plain (Oct-Dec 2026) ₹63 per kg 73
Kerala PWD LMR, Kozhikode (Oct-Dec 2026) ₹86 per kg 85
Kerala PWD LMR, Thrissur (Oct-Dec 2026) ₹91 per kg 96
Kerala PWD LMR, Ernakulam, Aluva (Oct-Dec 2026) ₹95 per kg 95
Uttarakhand PWD, Roorkee material sheet (24 Aug 2024) ₹175 per litre 80
Puducherry PSR 2024-25 (14 Aug 2024) ₹205 per litre 50
Maharashtra PWD SSR 2022-23 (25 Jul 2022) ₹210 per litre 90.20

A kg figure and a litre figure cannot be compared without the compound’s density, and none of the official documents checked prints one. Ask the supplier for the density on the data sheet. One square metre at 2.5 mm needs 2.5 litres, so its weight is 2.5 times that density.

Thermoplastic paint price per sqm and per sq ft, applied

This is the number a road contractor puts in a BOQ. Every item below is for hot-applied thermoplastic 2.5 mm thick including reflectorising glass beads at 250 g per sq m, laid on a bituminous surface. The sq ft column is the sq m rate divided by 10.764.

Schedule (effective date) Item ₹ per sq m ₹ per sq ft Basis
Chhattisgarh PWD, Road SOR (15 Jun 2026) 8.22 533 49.52 Excludes GST
Uttarakhand PWD, Block 74-A Champawat, revised (23 Mar 2026) 8.13 553 / 563 / 573 51.38 / 52.30 / 53.23 Large / medium / small project; excludes GST
Tamil Nadu SOR 2025-26 (22 Jul 2025) HW-W0089 890 82.68 Excludes GST
Puducherry PSR 2024-25 (14 Aug 2024) 8.13 745.27 69.24 GST position not stated
Haryana HSR 2023 (premium date 1 Apr 2023) 34.26 542 50.35 Labour 12, machinery 20, material 511
Maharashtra PWD SSR 2022-23 (25 Jul 2022) 6.12 a 666 61.87 Excludes GST; labour ₹27
Chhattisgarh PWD, NH Zone SOR (1 Jul 2022) 8.13 713 66.24 Excludes GST

Chhattisgarh’s own two schedules differ by ₹180 on the same item text, so check which schedule your tender is measured against before comparing bids. Haryana’s older HSR 2021 paid ₹607 for this item, and its preface says that schedule was derived considering the effect of 12% GST.

How much material goes into one square metre

The MoRTH Standard Data Book for Analysis of Rates (second revision, 2019) builds this item on 600 sq m: 1,500 litres of thermoplastic compound and 150 kg of glass beads. That is 2.5 litres of compound and 0.25 kg of beads per sq m. Under clause 803 of the MoRTH Specifications for Road and Bridge Works (5th revision, 2013), the 2.5 mm is the minimum thickness and excludes the beads sprayed on top.

Run Uttarakhand’s own numbers and the material share becomes clear. At Roorkee’s 2024 material prices, 2.5 litres at ₹175 is ₹437.50 and 0.25 kg of beads at ₹80 is ₹20, so ₹457.50 of a ₹552 Roorkee item rate is material before overheads, about 83%. Haryana’s HSR 2023 split is starker: ₹511 of ₹542 is material, ₹20 is machinery and ₹12 is labour. Lock your compound price before you lock the bid.

Primer, beads and what the rate leaves out

The beads are inside the item. The sealing primer is not always. MoRTH clause 803.6.2 asks for a sealing primer recommended by the maker on cement concrete pavement, and Maharashtra’s SSR 2022-23 tells estimators that on a concrete road the base primer coat “should be added separately in Rate Analysis.” Uttarakhand’s Roorkee sheet lists primer at ₹128 a kg, but no schedule gives a primer quantity per sq m for this item.

GST is the other gap. Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand and Maharashtra print their rates without it, Puducherry does not say, and Haryana’s 2021 rates carried its effect.

The marking machine and crew as a cost line

The Data Book assumes a road marking machine laying 60 sq m an hour, so 600 sq m takes 10 machine hours, half an hour of tractor-trolley, 0.75 of a mazdoor day and 0.03 of a mate day. Its note says the painter’s cost is already included in the hire charge of the machine. The printed hire rates vary widely: Haryana’s HSR 2021 lists the road marking machine at ₹1,000 an hour, Odisha’s SOR 2022 at ₹300 an hour for 100 sq m an hour, and Puducherry’s PSR 2024-25 at ₹175 an hour.

Marking is the last pass on a bituminous job, laid after the tandem roller has finished the wearing course. Rollers like the Ammann ARX 90-2 and L&T 990HFi do that finishing; the marking crew follows once the surface is clean and at least 10°C (clause 803.6.4). If you own a marking rig, road safety and resurfacing packages are listed among tenders and project opportunities, and the long highway runs come through the EPC companies building India’s highway projects.

A 1 km worked example

Take 1 km of two-lane road with paved shoulders. For its normal sections, IRC:35-2015 (Table 4.3) calls for a continuous 150 mm edge line on each side and a 150 mm centre line of 3 m mark and 6 m gap. Two edge lines are 300 sq m and the centre line is 50 sq m, so 350 sq m in all. At Chhattisgarh’s 2026 rate that is ₹1.87 lakh before GST; at Tamil Nadu’s ₹890 it is ₹3.12 lakh. The Data Book quantities give 875 litres of compound, 87.5 kg of beads and just under 6 machine hours. Warning and no-overtaking sections add more line, so measure from the drawing.

Thermoplastic or cold paint

Chhattisgarh’s 2026 schedule pays ₹128 a sq m for two coats of IS:164 road marking paint over 10 cm wide, about a quarter of the thermoplastic rate. IRC:35-2015 gives thermoplastic a service life of up to 2 to 3 years and asks for a warranty of at least two years.

The bottom line

Thermoplastic road marking paint price in India means three numbers: ₹63 to ₹95 a kg for the material in Kerala’s October 2026 lists, ₹175 to ₹210 a litre in older schedules, and ₹533 to ₹890 a sq m laid. Convert with 2.5 litres and 0.25 kg of beads per sq m, add primer on concrete and GST where the schedule leaves it out, then price the compound first. The bitumen under the marking comes from the bitumen and road material companies in India (see the bitumen grades guide), and barriers are priced in metal beam crash barrier price per meter.

Find live road safety work among road tenders and opportunities, and line up equipment finance for the roller or support vehicle the job needs. The Chhattisgarh PWD Road SOR of 15 June 2026 and the Tamil Nadu Schedule of Rates 2025-26 are the two to open first.

Rates, schemes, specifications and prices change — confirm current terms with the OEM, dealer, bank or insurer, or with the department that issued the schedule, before deciding. The figures here are as printed on the dates shown; schedule rates are department estimate rates and Kerala’s figures are its published local market rates, not supplier quotes.