GP Petroleums Ltd (GPPL) said on Tuesday it plans to invest Rs 100 crore in a new plant at Saronda in Gujarat to process over three lakh kilolitres of lubricants, thus enabling the company to be present across the entire gamut of Indian lubes market.
This will be GPPL's second blending plant in the country and will manufacture specialty value-added products in addition to the automotive and industrial lubricants catering to the entire value chain. Apart from the homegrown Ipol brand, the plant may blend Repsol branded automotive products as well.
GPPL is a leading automotive and industrial lubricants player in India and part of UAE-based multi-billion global oil conglomerate GP Global Group.
"We are very bullish about the growth of the Indian lubricant industry and aim to be one of its fastest-growing players," said Chief Executive Officer Prashanth Achar.
"The new facility will accelerate our growth engine, which will be led by the automotive segment in tier two and three towns and cities. We already have a robust partnership with over 500 distributors across India which will be strengthened further in the next few years," he said in a statement.
Sudip Shyam, Global Head for lubricants and base oils at GP Global Group said the new plant is part of the group's global growth strategy to produce and market 500 million litres of lubricants across the world through both organic and inorganic routes.
"India is a very important market for GP Global and we are confident of securing a higher market share in both automotive and industrial segments in the coming years," he said.
GPPL currently operates a plant at Vasai near Mumbai with an annual capacity of 80,000 tonnes and houses a storage facility of 15,000 tonnes, one of the largest in the Indian industry.