After about three years, the new 50,000 KL Ennore plant, operating at 40 per cent capacity, has enhanced its manufacturing capacity giving veracity to GOIL’s intent of positioning itself as the second private sector player in the domestic lubricant market. India is the world’s third-largest market with a size of about 2,500 mn litre. While 35 to 40 per cent of the market share being taken up by nationalised Oil Marketing behemoths – Indian Oil, HP and BPCL, GOIL is gunning to be a “strong number two in private sector,” said Ravi Chawla, MD, GOIL. As of now, it is in third slot, behind Castrol and Shell.  

A segment-wise approach has given it edge in the volume side making it compete hard with such well-established brands. With a 11 per cent growth in volumes last year, Gulf Oil has managed to overtake others, leaving players like Valvoline, Veedol and Total, way behind. Its pricing strategy has also worked in its favour, said Chawla, who believes that the 10 to 12 per cent compounded annual growth rate over the last decade, will only continue to rise. 

Last year’s 14 pc growth pales compared to Q1 of this year, when it recorded a growth of 30 pc mark, he pointed out.  

Increased distribution, an organised rural distribution model and OEMs, as a segment of focus, are some of the work-in-progress aspects of the company. “We are a market leader in the infrastructure space,” he said, noting that from a zero pc share in this segment in 2008, there were substantial gains, breaching 12 pc. DeMon and GST had its impact, but unlike other firms that de-grew, Gulf Oil managed to post 3 pc growth.

The two-wheeler batteries foray has also done well, with Gulf Pride brand, generating Rs 46 cr business. Competing with Exide and Amaron, it has achieved 1.5 pc market share. Hardik Pandya, roped in as its brand ambassador, joins cricketer MS Dhoni, who has been with GOIL since 2011. The company is also betting on electric mobility, developing fluids for EVs and investing in its global R&D centre with five labs, at Ennore.