The new Indian plant should attain full capacity in three to four years.
Petronas Lubricants International (PLI), a subsidiary of Malaysian oil major Petronas, is planning to invest $150 million in a bid to expand the company’s presence in the lubricants market in India.
The Kuala Lumpur- based firm will set up a plant in Patalganga, near Mumbai with 110 million liters [29 million gallons] capacity, a tech center for motorcycle engine oil, and invest in branding activity in the country, the Economic Times reported.
PLI’s group CEO Giuseppe D’Arrigo said that India can be a key engine for growth in future for Petronas. “India can be the engine of global lubricant market growth in future,” he told the English daily.
“We have been amongst the fastest growing brand globally. Even in India we hope to do better than competition,” he said.
According to D’Arrigo, the new Indian plant should attain full capacity in three to four years. The new factory is expected to go on stream in the first quarter of 2018. As it did in China, the company may adopt an FMCG-style marketing strategy as it did in China.
“India is market for price, but more and more sophistication is taking place, people will look for value in the future and that is where Petronas will play. Better products and better value to customers,” D’Arrigo said.
PLI is ranked among the top 10 global players with operations in more than 100 countries. Currently, the company sells about 30 million liters [nearly 8 million gallons] a year in India, just 3% of its global volumes of about 1 billion liters [264 million gallons].