Shell India bets on metal sector revival to drive growth

Company says the country is poised for metal sector growth while the US, Europe and China economies are slowing down

Diversified oil major Shell India is banking on revival in metal sector production to spur its growth in the country.

"India is the fourth largest market for metals. Currently, metal production in the country stands at 80 million tonne a year and this is expected to touch 120 million tonne by 2020. Shell would like to be a part of that growth story in metals sector", said Mansi Madan Tripathy, chief marketing officer, Shell India Markets Pvt Ltd.

Statistically, every single tonne of metal produced creates demand for one million litre of lubricant oil.

Tripathy agreed the metal sector growth was sluggish of late but is expected to look up on positive macroeconomic indicators, upbeat GDP (gross domestic growth) growth projections and the Union government's 'Make in India' campaign.

"India is currently the fourth largest steel manufacturer. The country is poised for metal sector growth while US, Europe and China economies are slowing down", she said.

The market for lubricant products in the country is estimated at 2.2 billion litres annually. Shell has a share of 15 per cent in the accessible market that excludes deals with the government or state owned players. Shell India mainly operates through direct supplies to its customers.

"By and large, we chose not to operate in the segment that involves supplies to the government or government owned companies. Our customers are value conscious and we offer them the cutting edge technologies", said Akhilesh Jha, vice president (technical lubricants), Shell India Markets Pvt Ltd.

"We are guided by four Ds- define, design, develop and demonstrate. Reliability is most important for us. At Shell, we maximise reliability and improve efficiency", Jha added.

Shell considers the India market to be strategically important as the country is the third largest market for lubricants and second highest in terms of two-wheelers usage. "We have more than 140 direct distributors across the country. But there are around 150,000 distribution points for lubricants. So, going ahead, we would like to expand our footprint by increasing presence in Tier-III and Tier-IV cities as well as rural markets while consolidating our operations in the major cities", Tripathy said.

"We are using the social media platform in a big way to spread the word on our products. Shell offers the best products in its category and more customers need to be made aware of it", she added.

With a staff strength of over 3000, Shell India operates an R&D (research & development) centre at Bangalore, financial business services centre and a joint venture LNG (liquefied natural gas) receiving and re-gasification terminal.