Gulf Oil, pioneers in long-drain lubricants in India, is adopting a focused segment-wise approach to achieve sustainable market growth, as it continues to be the fastest growing brand in terms of volume growth amongst the major lubricant players in the country.
Mr. Satyabrata Das, Vice President, OEM Business Operations & Global Account Director, Gulf Oil, talks to us about the company’s focus areas, BS VI-readiness and more in an exclusive chat.
Excerpts:
Market scenario and outlook
Growth in the lubricant industry continues to be sluggish and we are eagerly looking forward to improvement in demand, second half generally being a better season. However, continuing with our industry leading growth in the last 8-9 years, we have achieved a top-line growth of over 10% during the first half of the current year and we expect to be on track with our strategy to grow 2-3 times the industry growth in India during the second half of the year.
BS VI-readiness
The Government and various stakeholders will have to work together to meet the stiff challenges of implementing BS VI norms by 2020 in India. We, at Gulf Oil, are ready to meet the requirements of BS VI emission engines. Products have been developed and approvals obtained from leading global original equipment suppliers. We will synergize our key global capabilities and rich experience in the Indian CV market to achieve success in this area .
USPs
Technology, segment-wise focus and passion continue to be our major success factors.
Plant capacities
The capacity in our plant at Silvassa is 90,000 kl per annum. Our second plant, coming up in Chennai with a capacity of 50,000 kl per annum is expected to be in operation by October 2017.
Distribution network expansion
We are among the top lubricant brands in India in terms of distribution and reach. Along with steady progress of Gulf Bikestops, our exclusive independent garages for two-wheelers, we are focusing on similar set ups in the passenger car segment Gulf Carstops and a new tier of distribution in the rural market Gulf Rural Stockist.
OEM tie-ups
We are working with quite a few OEMs in multiple vehicle segments. In fact, we have just signed a major tie-up with Bajaj Auto, India’s 2nd largest motorcycle manufacturer, for distribution of Bajaj Genuine Oil in Bajaj Dealer as well as Bazaar segment. This is our first OEM tie-up in the two-wheeler segment which will help us further in growing our oil business where we already have a strong presence in Bazaar. Bajaj Genuine Oil, with its 10,000 km drain interval, is the latest offering with differentiated value proposition to our customers demonstrating our core values of “Quality, Endurance & Passion”.
Long-term outlook
We can expect 2-3% growth in demand in the medium term with lubricant specifications in each vehicle segment catching up with global trends. Fuel economy is expected to be a major driver in determining future lubricant specifications. After a successful growth in commercial vehicle, motorcycle and tractor segments, we are now focusing on the passenger car segment.