Pioneers of long drain lubricants in India; Gulf Oil has clearly set out its mission to achieve sustainable market share growth in targeted segments by delivering world class products and value added solutions. “We are proud to be the fastest growing brand in terms of volume growth amongst the major players in India. Over the last 8 years our growth has been 10 per cent CAGR. Our strategy has always been to grow 2-3 times the market growth rate and we have successfully done that for the last 8-9 years. We have close to 9 per cent market share in the bazaar segment,” reveals Mr. Ravi Chawla, Managing Director, Gulf Oil.
In recent years, through its brand strength and market aggression, Gulf has emerged as the fastest growing private sector lubricant brand in India. Gulf’s Indian operations is spread nationwide with more than spread nationwide with more than 300 distributors, over 50,000 retailers and over 200 sales and technical service men. Out of the approximate lubricant market 2.3 million metric tonnes if one removes process oil and white oils the market would be 1.7 million metric tonnes. The bazaar market is estimated to be approximately 700,000 kl. “Our strategy is to grow our distribution higher than our volume, if we are growing at 10 per cent in volume we would like to see our distribution at least 15 per cent,” informs Mr. Chawla.
Gulf Oil is also taking a lot of initiative to train the technical team, dealers and distributors. “We have a connected system to know whom the distributors are selling, where they are selling and activation that takes place in the market. We do activation on weekly basis when talking to consumers. We are also building our brand and spending 6 to 7 per cent of our revenues in the brand both ATL and BTL. It includes advertising and speaking to mechanics, dealers, etc.; about how to use a lubricant and what difference it makes to the engine,” he adds.
Gulf also has tie-ups with commercial vehicle OEMs in order to provide them with products with special technical requirements that suit the vehicles engine. “We have genuine engine oil with Bharat Benz, co-branded oil with Ashok Leyland and another product with MAN. We also market other diesel engine oils which go in the bazaar which goes for all application. Right from factory fill, after market these engine oils are primarily based on some special formulation that deliver longer drain lives and meet the other needs that are there,” says the MD.
BS VI-ready
As the entire automotive industry will move to BSVI emission norms by 2020, it will require completely new product range in engine oil, lubricants, gear and transmission oils from what is being marketed and sold today. “Change in emission norms will require different type of after treatment system. For e.g., in today’s BS IV people are using SCR (Selective Catalytic Reducer) to reduce the NOx. Besides SCR, everybody will also require DPF, (Diesel Particulate Filter) and even look at EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation). So as the cost is related to this change, OEMs have to make up their mind for what after treatment technology they are going to go for,” explains Mr. Y.P. Rao, Chief Technology Officer, Gulf Oil International Group.
It is evident from Mr. Rao’s explanation that the current oils and lubricants are not going to be compatible with BSVI engines. BSVI fuel will have 10 ppm sulfur content from the current 50 ppm levels. When this happens even the oil and lubricants have to match the new requirement. “We already have the oil approved and tested by all the major OEMs which is Euro VI-compliant in Europe. We also have field experience done there. We are also getting ready with differentiated products for the Euro 6 engines,” beams Mr. Rao.
Looks like Gulf Oil is poised to maintain it USP in 2020 with the differentiated product offering for BS VI engines. “With our experience in Europe and all the long drain engine oil experience in India, we are waiting for the Euro 6 equivalent BS VI engine to arrive so that we can validate our product,” concludes Mr. Chawla.