We continually make investments to upgrade our facilities
Which are the major products from Tide Water Oil and what are its salient features?
Tide Water Oil Co, the owner of the Veedol, brand across the globe is a world class producer and marketer of high-quality lubricants. We have served the Indian automotive and industrial markets since 1928. We have now spread our wings to more than 70 countries across the globe with the help of various subsidiaries and licensed manufacturing facilities.

We are concentrating on BSVI engine oil and long-drain hydraulic oils for Infra and mining segment. Our focus is also on high-performance greases and transmission oil. We are among the first and most experienced lube companies in India to offer complete lubricant solutions across all the product categories to OEMs.

The product that we are focusing on here at IMME is MARATRON LSP CK4 engine oil, which is most suitable for BSVI compatible engine and also backward compatible. It can work up to 80,000 km drainage intervals. 

When it comes to the greases, we do manufacture our own greases and have a whole basket of speciality greases to offer in the market. We have Calcium sulphonate complex, Lithium complex and Poly urea-based greases for construction and mining equipment, Customer get the direct benefit of very long drainage interval thereby huge cost saving and less machine idle time. While conventional greases can last up to eight hours, our greases can last up to twenty hours, providing 2.5 times the advantages of current conventional products.

How do you look at the market for lubricants in India?
The Indian lube market is broadly divided into two parts – automotive and industrial. The industrial lubricant market is growing at a modest rate of 3.5 to 4 percent p.a. vis-à-vis to other developed countries where there is a stagnation in the lubricant market. 

In the industrial segment, the construction and mining industry contributes around 12 per cent to the total lubricants market. Construction and mining equipment industry is growing by more than 30 per cent as of September 22. The market potential of lubricants in the construction and mining segment is very high and we are looking forward to have a better share of business in coming days. 

We are relatively new in offering our specialty lubricants for the construction and mining industry. We are surely strengthening our foothold in mining and construction lubricants. 

Which are your stronger pockets in India?
For us, Eastern India is a strongest market for mining and construction segment. We are also very strong in infra and construction at the western region. 

Are these products completely made in India?
We have five state of the art manufacturing plants that are spread across the nation. These are based Kolkata, Navi Mumbai, Silvassa, Faridabad, and Chennai. The combined production capacity five plants are 1,11,000 MT/ KL. We manufacture both Specialty and conventional lubricants in India through our own make in India initiatve. The product technology that we boast of are based on our own research by NABL certified R&D labs at Mumbai & Chennai. 

Any plans for capacity expansion?
We have got a single shift operation capacity of 1,11,000 Mt/ kl. Our annual lubricant sale is approx. 85,000 Kl. There is a still a gap of 25,000 kl. This capacity is only for the single-shift operation. If you multiply that by a two-shift operation, then the numbers will be even more. We are not investing in capacity expansion, but we are definitely investing in modernising our plants and technology upgradation. Earlier a lot of manual operations were there but now all our plants are highly automated by using robots and ML technology. 

We are even looking at sustainability as a way of life. Our Silvassa plant is now mostly being operated through renewable solar energy. We are also investing quite a lot to make all other plants a self-dependent renewable energy source. Not to enhance our production capacity, but to be a sustainable energy player in the market, wherein we have got something to offer to the environment rather than taking everything from that.

In terms of performance, how was the current year?
We are a continuously growing business house. Fortunately, our industrial lube business is growing by double-digits. Our OEM business is also growing many folds now. We have added a lot of new construction OEMs which were not there during last year. 

Our top-line growth is very good. At present, we are at more than 12 to 14 per cent on YOY basis. There is definite stress in the bottom line as the basic input cost has gone up. We are sure by the end of the F/year; we will have robust growth as compared to the last year.