Castrol India Announces A Strong Financial Delivery In 1Q, 2021

Sandeep Sangwan, managing director, Castrol India Limited reported a strong financial delivery in 1Q 2021 building on a resilient second half performance for FY 2020. We delivered robust revenue and profit growth with 1Q revenue from operations @ INR 1139 crores (66% higher) and 1Q Profit Before Tax @ INR 332 crores (96% higher) versus 1Q 2020 which saw the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and resultant business slow down beginning March 2020. 

Focused investments, interventions and actions taken in the second half of 2020 towards brand building with increased marketing and advertising spends, new product introductions as well as corrective pricing have yielded a positive impact on overall topline growth. This has been aided by improving demand trends especially in tractor and SUV sales in 1Q 2021.

Strengthening our network and expanding our footprint, as well as building our participation in digital market platforms, we entered into a strategic collaboration with ki Mobility Solutions Private Limited to supply lubricant products to ki Mobility workshops in India and also be available on goBumpr, their digital platform.

Our cost efficiency programmes and judicious working capital management efforts led to healthy cash from operations @ INR 269 crores in the quarter, which is equivalent to 1.1 times of Profit After Tax.

While we continue to focus on fundamental building blocks to deliver sustainable profitable growth keeping safety of our teams as our top priority, our plants continued to operate safely deploying Covid-19 safety processes and guidelines as laid out by local governments. Our Patalganga plant won recognition from the National Safety Council for the second consecutive year for its strong safety performance.

The second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in India is resulting in a market slowdown in various parts of the country. In addition, supply disruptions on account of base oil and raw materials availability, logistics challenges and rupee depreciation are likely to adversely impact demand and supply. The management is keeping a close watch on the situation and responding with appropriate actions as needed.  

About Castrol India: Castrol, is one of the world’s leading lubricant brands and has a proud heritage of innovation and fueling the dreams of pioneers. Castrol India Limited is one of India’s leading lubricants companies with iconic brands such as Castrol CRB, Castrol GTX, and power brands like Castrol Activ, Castrol MAGNATEC and Castrol VECTON being the brand of choice for millions of consumers and customers across the country. The company also has a presence in select segments like High Performance Lubricants and metalworking fluids used in a wide variety of industries such as automotive manufacturing, mining, machinery and wind energy.

Castrol India has a large manufacturing and distribution network in India with three blending plants and a distribution network of 350 distributors who reach consumers and customers through over 100,000 retail outlets. In addition, Castrol sub-distributors reach additional outlets in rural markets while the company also directly services over 3,000 key institutional accounts.

Along with providing world class products and services, Castrol India focuses on and prioritizes safety, compliance and quality.