Gulf Oil Lubricants India Ltd (GOLIL) is part of the Hinduja Group and an established player in the Indian lubricants industry. Gulf Oil International, which is the parent of GOLIL, owns the Gulf brand globally except in US, Spain and Portugal. The company enjoys a presence in over 100 countries, with operations primarily in the automotive and industrial segments and has a leading presence in the open market through a stellar distributor network. Gulf Oil Lubricants Ltd supplies directly to OEMs and other B2B industrial customers related to infrastructure, mining and transport. The company is the fastest growing lubricant player in the country by consistently outperforming the industry growth rate year on year. With an 11% CAGR volume growth during the last eight years, GOLIL has recorded a three times growth of the lube industry.
Its comprehensive product portfolio covers automotive, industrial and marine applications, having major approvals from international certifying bodies and associations. The company is a pioneer, having established a strong position in the commercial vehicle sector of diesel engine oil and two-wheeler motor oil segments. GOLIL has collaborated with top original equipment manufacturers like Ashok Leyland, Mahindra, Swaraj Volvo Penta, MAN, Bharat Benz Whitmore, Schwing Stetter and Bajaj Auto, among many others. These significant partnerships have helped it adopt and pioneer many models in the automotive industry like co-brand oils, genuine oils and approved oils. The Gulf Oil brand enjoys an enviable position among the top three lubricant brands in the country with regard to brand awareness, where it is known for its rich history and association with the world of sports. The company is proud to have the cricketing legend Mahendra Singh Dhoni as its brand ambassador.
It also has a rich motorsport history, having sponsored and partnered with various esteemed sports associations such as IPL, Manchester United Football Club, World Endurance Championship and World Super Bike Racing. The company has a robust production and distribution centre, facilitated by a fully automated certified blending plant in Silvassa, with a huge capacity of 90,000 kilo litres and a world class research and development centre. A second lubricant plant at Ennore is in the works with a capacity of 40,000 kilo litres, for which the operations are going to start this current year. The management is also quite upbeat on the company’s financial performance in the future. The Gulf Oil stock quoting at Rs 910 is a good buy with a 25% upside in the next one year.
The Monetary Policy Committee of the RBI kept the Repo rate at 6% and maintained a neutral stance as per market expectations. The only surprise was the downtrend revision of the inflation projection for FY2019, which added a dovish undertone to the otherwise neutral statement. Even though the Monetary Policy Committee has lowered the inflation forecast somewhat, there are several upside risks to the Consumer Price Inflation. These could be the hardening of inflation figures due to weather conditions, upside in crude oil prices, likelihood of fiscal slippage in the future and announcement of crop procurement prices by the government. But the RBI policy was well liked by the stock market and the BSE Sensex index went up by nearly 600 points on that day. The markets look bullish for the month of April 2018 on the back of improved quarterly earnings.
Rajiv Kapoor is a share broker, certified mutual fund expert and MDRT insurance agent.