The lubricant manufacturing companies are finally seeing an uptrend with sales picking up following higher automobile sales. The stocks of listed lubricant companies have generally been going up in the last few months. Besides higher lubricant sales, the listed PSUs have been up due to other reasons such as disinvestment proposals and petroleum pricing which is now left to the companies to decide.
India is an upcoming market for lubricants market. According to latest figures, lubricants/ grease sales posted a handsome 29.57 per cent increase to 87,200 tonnes in December 2002.
Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) with a share of 34 per cent in the lubricants market has witnessed a rise in its stock price by 20 per cent from Rs 206.15 beginning October 2002 to Rs 245 as on today.
Similarly, Castrol India, the second largest lubricant seller with a market share of 20 per cent, has appreciated by about 6 per cent from Rs 189.80 to today