Castrol India MD sees robust lubricants market till 2040

While 2021 was a challenging year for  one of the leading manufacturers of automotive and industrial lubricants in India, because of the continued onslaught of Covid-19, Castrol India Limited, “demonstrated remarkable resilience” and delivered its highest-ever revenue to date of INR4,192 crores (USD526.7 million) in 2021, a 40% improvement over  2020. The volume of lubricants sold in 2021 brought its market share back to 2019 pre-pandemic levels, according to Castrol India’s 2021 Annual Report.

Overall, the year was marked by  rising input costs and supply chain bottlenecks, which put  pressure on margins, said Sandeep Sangwan, managing director of Castrol India Limited.

By leveraging multiple growth opportunities through the expansion of independent workshops, the launch of premium branded products, and the introduction of new formats such as the Castrol Auto  Service centers and Castrol Express Oil Change outlets, Castrol was able to overcome these challenges. 

“We  not only invested in our brands, but we also strengthened our  service & maintenance offerings to customers and scaled up adjacencies in the automotive aftermarket.”  

Sangwan sees robust growth in the Indian lubricants market until about 2040.

“As industry leaders in the lubricants space, Castrol India  is continuously evolving to be future-ready. In 2021, your company was one of the first players in India to launch new  products with BS-VI ready technology for both passenger cars and commercial vehicles. To cater to the rapidly growing  electric vehicle (EV) segment, we are exploring options with  two-wheeler EV manufacturers for developing EV fluids. At  the same time, we continue to supply EV fluids to two leading  passenger car OEMs in India. We are also supporting India’s  growing EV eco-system by collaborating with existing and new  partners,” Sangwan wrote in the annual report.

“EVs are coming, but it’s not that they’ll wipe out the category in the next five years. Our core revenue will get impacted because of EVs. This is where we think we should diversify and invest in, in an allied business concerning the EV business,” he said in a recent article in The Hindu Business Line.

About 80% of the company’s revenue is derived from the retail segment, while the balance is equally split between sales to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and industrial sales.