Annual Report 2012

Revving up a great performance

Your Company has had an excellent 2004 with strong revival in the underlying health of the business, although there is a drop in Profit After Tax. The resurgence of volume and top line growth, well ahead of market, proves the strength of the brand and marketing excellence of the organization. It reassures us of our approach of sustained investment in our brands irrespective of difficult or prosperous circumstances. Superior brand preference, customer satisfaction, innovative distribution and focused communication strategy have all enabled us to recover the unprecedented material cost increase, with twin approach of significant price increases and volume growth.

Our strategy is paying off with our winning formula: focus on select segments, quality in market execution and strong partnerships. Starting mid 2003, we have continuously grown in volume and revenue, despite increasing competition and cost escalation. We have made progress in key segments which will be the growth engines in the future: new generation Commercial vehicles, passenger cars and motorcycle oils. It’s a matter of pride that we have revived the flagging truck / tractor oil category performance in a declining market. This segment is under volume pressure because of reducing oil usage rates of newer, efficient engines.

Strong strategic partnerships with Automotive leaders like Mahindras, Tatas, JCB, Escorts and Tata Cummins have been great assets. We have been the first to enter the new private sector petrol pump chains of Reliance and Essar, thereby gaining access to a new channel of distribution. BP brand continues on its sharp growth trend. The Industrial segment business has delivered significant improvement in volumes and profitability. Our strategy to focus on premium offers and value customers is paying rich dividends. 2004 saw many innovative marketing initiatives which improved our customer satisfaction and loyalty to record levels.

We are proud to be part of BP, one of the largest companies in the world and a leading Global oil major. In the lubricant category we are well respected within BP for our strong business and marketing acumen as well as quality human resources. We continue to receive recognition and top awards for various Marketing, Finance and Safety initiatives within BP as well as from reputed external organizations. Amongst several values imbibed from our parent company, possibly the most exciting and relevant is deeper concern for Health, Safety and Environment. In today’s environment of huge changes in road infrastructure and automobile population explosion, our aim is to play a leadership role in increasing awareness of safety on roads. In addition to undertaking initiatives to educate the public, we are investing large sums in improving driving safety of our own staff as well as transport contractors and operators. This is done through upgrading of vehicles and driver training programmes.

Naveen Kshatriya
Managing Director