AUTOMOTIVE LUBRICANTS CONSISTENT GROWTH 
IN DEMAND AND QUALITY
By Dr.N G KANNAN, General Manager(Marketing Operations) & DEBASISH BHATTACHARYA, Manager (Technical Services), Indian Oil

Indian Automotive sector is growing at a rapid pace commensurate with international scenario. Worldwide population of vehicles is expected to increase by 50% in another 10 years while the major contribution will be from Asia. At present the vehicle density in Asia is 22 vehicles per 1000 heads against 855 vehicles per 1000 heads of West and so the growth potential in automobile sector in Asian countries is tremendous. Production of vehicles in Asia is estimated to reach up to 4.8 million per annum from present rate of 2.2 million per annum.

World over, the technological development in automobile industry is very fast nowadays and India is also vying to secure pride position in this field. Leading vehicle manufacturers of Japan and Korea have introduced high tech cars in the Western market. These cars are compact in design having less clearance between moving parts for achieving very high power to weight ratio, lower fuel consumption, lower emission, more safety and driving comfort. Obviously these cars require superior quality fuel and lubricants. Indian Automobile market have left its Bullock Cart stage long back and many models of modern high tech cars are plying on Indian roads. Cars like Mitsubishi Lancer, Santro, Matiz, Opel Astra, Fiat Uno, Fiat Sienna, Honda City, Mercedes Benz, Cummins, Ford Escort, Indica have already been introduced in India and many manufacturers of world repute are keen to meet the aspirations of Indian people.

Simultaneously, throughout the world lot of improvement has taken place with respect to quality of fuels of both petrol and diesel due to the pressing need of environment protection. India is also not lagging behind. Unleaded petrol and extra low sulphur diesel have been introduced in India by Indian oil and PSUs.

In such a perspective where both engine technology and fuel quality has been upgraded rapidly, lubrication is not an easy task to perform. Lubricants basic function includes various requirements such as reducing friction, reducing wear, carrying away heat, acting as a hydraulic medium etc. The use of the right type of lubricant, at the right place and at the right time is extremely important for extending equipment life and reducing downtime. Lubrication is a very important tool for pro-active maintenance.

With such technological advancement there is continuous requirement of lubricants having better and better quality. In Indian market too, the demand of high performance lubricants is commensurate with the upgradation of automobile technology and fuel quality.
Besides qualitative upgradation there has been consistent growth in the demand of fuels and lubricants in the Indian market. In fact, the Indian market is the 6th largest lubricant market having an annual sale of nearly 1.2 million tonnes worth Rs.5600 crores. Indian lube market is showing a growth of 4% for the last few years. On the contrary, the biggest global market of automotive lubricants of the USA with annual demand of 8 million tonnes is experiencing stagnation. Similar is the picture in European market too.

Such volume and growth of Indian lube market has attracted a number of multinational oil companies like Shell, Gulf, Elf Total, Mobil, Caltex, etc. in the Indian market. It has been estimated that the present lubricant demand of our country will increase from 1.2 million tonnes per annum to 1.35 million tonnes per annum shortly.

Automotive Sector alone contributes 65% of the annual lubricant consumption of our country. Lubricant catered to this sector is mainly through petrol pumps and Bazar Shops. This market is experiencing stiff competition from the multinational oil companies, PSUs like HPC, BPC, TATA, BP, Castrol, Gulf, etc. and many more road side blenders.

Engine oil constitutes 83% volume of automotive lubricants and gear oils, transmission fluids, hydraulic brake fluids and engine coolants contribute the balance. Quality of automotive oils are generally controlled either by generic international specifications like SAE (Society of Automotive Engineers), US military, API (American Petroleum Institute), AEAM (Association of European Automotive Manufacturers), JASO (Japan Automotive Standards Organisation), etc. or the specifications laid down by reputed OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers) like General Motors, FORD Motors, Cummins and Caterpillars of USA and others.

Obviously, the performance specifications and engine test RIG data of lubricating oils are being upgraded continuously to match with the requirement of these multinational OEMs looking for international market and having manufacturing or assembling base in India.

Indian Oil possess highest market participation in automotive lubricants of domestic market and for dominating national market it has taken a number of measures such as performance upgradation, expanding distribution/ marketing channels, offering attractive incentive schemes, conducting publicity campaign etc.

Indian oil has always coped up with the demand of the era and pioneered in introducing lubricants of improved quality in Indian market. In today's civilisation, Energy Conservation and Environment Protection are two major issues to be dealt with. Various lubricants ensuring energy efficiency and environment friendliness have been introduced by Indian oil. It has maintained its leadership by introducing many high performance automotive lubricants meeting international standards recognised in world market. A few of them are given below:
Servo Superior Xee SH : An Energy Efficient Eco-friendly Multigrade Engine Oil suitable for modern cars.

Servo Premium CF4 15W-40 : An Eco-friendly Low Emission Diesel Engine Oil.
Servo Pride Super 15W-40 : A long drain (over 40,000 KM) Diesel Engine Oil.
Servo Pride 30/40 : Long Drain Diesel Engine Oil.
Servo Pride Multigrade Series/Servo Premium Series : Multigrade Engine Oils.
Servo 2T Supreme : An Eco-friendly 2-Stroke Engine Oil meeting JASO-FC Specification.
Servo Gear HP Alfa 80W90/Servo Gear HP 75W90/Servo Gear Super 80W90/Servo Gear Super 85W140 : Multigrade Automotive Gear Oils. Recommended for Gear Boxes of modern engines.
Servo Kool/Kool Plus/Kool Blue : Biodegradable Long Life Engine Coolants suitable for modern cars.

In today's competitive lubricant market, customer's expectation on product quality is soaring high. In order to instill confidence in customer's mind on the quality of lubricating oil, Indian oil has entered into Genuine Oil tie-ups with different OEMs as mentioned in the table:

GENUINE OIL TIE UP

Sl.NO	ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT MANUFACTURER	MODEL OF VEHICLE	GENUINE OIL FROM INDIAN OIL
1	MARUTI UDYOG LTD.	MARUTI 800/DX,OMNI/OMNI-E, GYPSY, 1000, ESTTEM LX,/VX/AX, MARUTI ZEN LX/VX/CLASSIC	MARUTI GENUINE OIL 9SERVO SUPERIOR 20W40
2	HUNDAI MOTORS INDIA LTD	SANTRO GLS / DELUX	HUNDAI SERVO ENGINE OIL HUNDAI SERVO GEAR OIL HUNDAI SERVO COOLANT HUNDAI SERVO  STEERING OIL HUNDAI SERVO  BRAKE OIL
3	HINDUSTAN MOTORS LTD	MITSHUBISHI LANCER CARS	LANCER GENUINE ENGINE OIL LANCER GENUINE COOLANT LANCER GENUINE BRAKE OIL
4	BAJAJ AUTO LTD.	BAJAJ2 STROKE2 WHEELER/3WHEELER	BAJAJ SERVO GENUINE 2T ZOOM
5	KINETIC ENGINEERING LTD.	KINETIC SCOOTERS, LUNA, SAFARI, MOPED CYCLES	KINETIC ULTRA 2T OIL KINETIC SERVO 20W40
6	TAFE LTD.	MASSEY FERGUSSAN TRACTORS- ALL MODELS	TAFE GENUINE OIL
7	CKDSKODA	DGSET	(d)SERVO CKD SKODA GENUINE DGSET OIL (HSD AS FUEL) (e)SERVO SKODA GENUINE OIL HD (LDO) AS FUEL (f)SERVO SKODA GENUINE OIL XHD (FO FUEL)
8	ELGI EQUIPMENT	SCREWAIR COMPRESS-O9RS	ELGIAIR LUBE
9	TELCO	TATA INDICA PETROL & DIESEL VEHICLES	SERVO INDICA P SERVO INDICA D SERVO INDICA P 2000
10	TELCO	TATA SUMO	SERVO SUMO ENGINE OIL

Most of these Genuine Oils are also enriched with the properties of Energy Efficiency and Eco-friendliness.

For satisfying wide spread cross section of customers throughout the country, Indian oil is further expanding its re-seller network already having sales points over 18,000 with 333 supply locations. Indian oil has opened a number of Servo Shops to facilitate customers purchasing lubricants from Bazaar. Servo Shops are exclusive in nature and have identical look all over the country so that these are easily identifiable to the customers.

Price of Servo lubricants has also been kept at most economical level in comparison to similar quality of other brands, which are available at much higher prices.
The unique R&D Centre of Indian oil at Faridabad is equipped with latest testing facilities and is continuously maintaining liaison with various international test houses and OEMs to update technical information on product performance, test criteria, future requirements etc.
Indian oil has also started marketing lubricants in abroad and is nurturing the vision of becoming “a major diversified, transnational, integrated energy company”.