Castrol taps pumps in new sales pitch

For the first time in the country, Castrol lubricants will now be available at petrol stations. The company has commenced sale of its lubricants at Reliance Industries' petrol pumps spread across Gujarat and Maharashtra.

Ravi Pisharody, director marketing, Castrol India said, "The company is already selling lubricants to Reliance Industries. Although we are in conversation with the company to place and market our products through their retail outlets, there is no formal agreement with the company." It has also initiated discussions with Essar Oil to market its lubes through the latter's retail outlets.

Castrol enjoys an overall market share of 26.7 per cent in automotive lubricants. It, however, adopted the "bazaar" route to sell its lubricants through garages, service stations and its own dealer retail network as the state-owned petrol pumps were not available for marketing its products.

The state-owned oil companies, Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan petroleum Corporation, Bharat petroleum Corporation and IBP, sold their own branded lubricants and those of their joint venture multinational partners to sell lubes through 21,000 petrol pumps.

Meanwhile, Castrol India has tied up with Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) to supply diesel engine oil for the latter's tractors.

As per the agreement, valid for four years, Castrol will develop, manufacture and supply a specially formulated diesel engine oil , Castrol CRB Prima , for use in M&M tractors. Castrol will carry on-pack M&M endorsement.

Castrol CRB Prima is the variant of Castrol CRB Plus and will be available in all M&M authorised workshops as well as Castrol's extensive retail network. M&M has 900 authorised service centres and 471 dealers in the country.

Naveen Kshatriya, managing director, Castrol India said, "Original equiment manufacturer (OEM) partnerships have been the cornerstone of Castrol's success worldwide. This partnership with M&M enables us to leverage the leadership of two major brands in the tractor segment and offer consumers the best product." Pischarody said the company has tied up with "top few companies in each sectors, trucks, passanger cars, tractors, to provide specially formulated lubes."