‘Lubricants industry expects huge shift in technology’ [Sep 2011]

September 26, 2011 9:38 am

The lubricants industry in India is growing at a pace of 3.9% year-on-year. Sandeep Kalia, CEO of Valvoline Cummins expects a major shift in technology and customers will upgrade themselves to long drain lubes, which will strengthen their position.
Please discuss about Valvoline-Cummins and your activities in India. Valvoline Cummins Ltd (VCL) is a joint venture of Valvoline Inc. USA and Cummins India Ltd. In India, we started our operations in 1998. Today we are one of the India’s fastest growing lubricant brand in the country. Over the last few years while the lubricant industry has grown by 3-4 per cent per year, we have been clocking high double digit growth rates.
How do you see the lubricants market in India?Indian economy is witnessing a steady growth. As far as lubricants business in India is concerned, the current market is over 1.8 million metric tonne and for any foreign brand like us, accessibility is close to just 50 per cent of the entire market. The industry is projected to grow at a rate of 3.9 per cent year-on-year till 2013. However, we are expecting a major shift in technology and customers will upgrade themselves to long drain lubes, which will strengthen our position.
Can you brief us on your products range? Valvoline-Cummins product range and their technical attributes are different from those in the market, particularly their advanced additive technology and premium base oil attributes ensuring high performance and enhanced engine life.
Our products range includes all types of automotive lubricants (diesel oils/motorcycle oils and passenger car oils), transmission fluids, gear oils, industrial lubricants, speciality products, greases and cooling systems.
Out of the wide range of products, which is that one product that holds the key to your business?Our key business is the diesel lubricants both for on and off highway applications. Our products are superior in quality as we use only group II and group III base oils. The additives that we use in some of our flagship products like Premium Blue makes them unique and possibly the best diesel engine oil available today. Valvoline Cummins is also one of the major lubricant players in power generation segment. Our wide-presence enables us in providing a complete line of Valvoline products across the country.
Valvoline has the expertise in developing and marketing high performance oils in more than 140 countries. Are you going to develop any solutions keeping in mind the need of Indian market?We were testing the next generation CI4+ oils in India as the latest engines are becoming more environment-friendly, and our lubricants are developed to deliver the results as per the latest norms like Euro IV and BS IV.

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