As GS Caltex India celebrates its 10th anniversary, we caught up with Rajesh Nagar, Managing Director and CEO, to find out more about the organisation's journey so far and its future plans for the Indian market.

How did GS Caltex's India entry come about?
GS Caltex (GSC), headquartered in Seoul, South Korea, is a leader in the petroleum, lubricant and petrochemical businesses. It was founded in 1967 as a 50:50 joint venture between Chevron Corporation, USA and GS Energy, South Korea. It operates the fourth largest refinery in the world at 790,000 barrels per day and is the largest producer of aromatics products globally. The company is a major exporter of petroleum products including lubricants. Building on this competitiveness, the company decided to venture into large overseas markets like India, Russia, China and many other countries. The Indian subsidiary was established in Mumbai on February 2, 2010; thus marking the beginning of our India journey.

What is GS Caltex India's company ethos?
GS Caltex India strongly believes in the GSC way. Trust, Flexibility, Challenge and Excellence are the cornerstones of the GSC way. It is also about being proactive, collaborative and performance oriented. We will strategically utilise our internal and external resources to the best of our capabilities for delivering tangible results. We want to stand out in the lubricant industry and ensure that the customer comes first. The GSC way has been our guiding light for the past decade.

How did GS Caltex India grow in the past 10 years?
We as a company have been on a challenging yet wonderful journey. GS Caltex in India may have been present only since 2010, but Caltex has had a brand legacy of more than 80 years associated with quality and consistency. Caltex as a brand has also been very strong among OEMs not only in India but also at a global level. This has helped GS Caltex India to forge relationships with some of the leading global OEMs from the initial days itself.

Indian lubricant market is one of the most competitive and the toughest markets in the world. For a relatively young company like ours, we have managed to make our own place in the Indian lubricant industry on the strength of our superior technology and products. GS Caltex India might be the only company in India to manufacture high-quality premium lubricants using only Group II plus/Group III base oils imported from its own refinery.

Where do you see GS Caltex India in the next 10 years? What are the growth plans?
Research and Development (R&D) is the core strength of GS Caltex in developing product competitiveness for lubricants and polymers. GSC's R&D facility located near Seoul in South Korea has developed many award-winning lubricants to forge partnerships with major global OEMs. Our future-ready product portfolio is a major dimension of our growth strategy. At the recently held Excon, GS Caltex India showcased its futuristic portfolio meeting BS VI standards which includes BS VI compatible engine oils Kixx HDX Euro CK-4 15W-40, extra long life high performance hydraulic oil Kixx HVL range and high performance fully synthetic gear oil Kixx GearSyn GL-5 75W-90.

Recently, we have also launched our polymer product portfolio in India. GS Caltex India has also been identified as a major subsidiary in the global GS Caltex network and been tasked with foray into African market. With these new launches and expansion of sales network, we believe GS Caltex will become a major player in the Indian and African markets.

In the coming decade, GS Caltex India will continue to invest towards new technologies and superior products catering to existing and new segments with the objective of adding value to our customers and stakeholders.