30 minutes with Rajesh Nambiar, GM (Technical Services), IOCL

1. How long have you worked in a lubrication-related field, and how did you decide to pursue a career in the lubricants industry?

I have worked in Technical Services (Lubrication related field) for more than 22 years. After my initial 10 years in the field of LPG I requested management to post me in Technical Services as I wanted to work in Lube Marketing which was a more challenging business segment.

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2. What do you have to say about the Lube Market in India? What do you see as the key trends in the sector?

Lube market in India has undergone a sea change in the last 30 years. Lube trade was opened for competition in 1994. Many MNC companies entered India and tried to establish their foothold here. However, PSU oil companies led by IOCL restructured their operations to maintain leadership positions in this highly competitive space. The finished lubricant market in India is 2.8 MMT with our Servo brand of lubricants occupying the highest market share in both Retail and Institutional segment. Currently, this market is growing at a CAGR of 3-4% and is at the cusp of transformation towards usage of higher performance and greener lubricants.

3. In your view, how the implementation of Industry 4.0 and Digitization has improved the Manufacturing sector?

Industry 4.0 has transformed lube blending in a radical way and has brought in almost 100% automation in many of the Indian Lube manufacturing plants. Now most operations from receipt to dispatch and small can filling lines are all fully automated. Use of data analytics is lube marketing is being used for deciding on product mix and SKUs for positioning in the market vis a vis competition.

4. How is IOCL preparing for the EV shift in India? How do you see the market?

Today the EV segment is growing in India at a reasonable pace and the market share of EVs has grown in the Passenger Car segment up to 4%. Due to constraints in infrastructure of charging facilities in highways and smaller towns, consumers are little slower in adopting the technology. Moreover, higher cost of lithium ion batteries is another constraint which increases the net cost of an EV vehicle. Adoption of EVs is slower in the heavy vehicle segment due to similar reasons.

IOCL is fully geared up to the expected shift to EVs. Our R&D is actively working on battery technologies with alternate options to lithium. We are also engaged with EV -OEMs for development of their transmission lubricants, greases and coolants which are typically based on synthetic chemistry with higher value, higher performance levels and longer change periods.

5. Research & development plays an important role in any sector, particularly in lubricants. As you’ve also backed SERVO products R&D, can you please throw some light on the efforts taken by the R&D department?

Our R&D Centre based in Faridabad has been a pioneer in developing more than 5000 formulations for our customers in every segment of the lubricant business. Since its formation in 1972, numerous lubricants have been introduced in Defence, Railways, OEMs, Steel, Cement and other allied sectors as import substitution leading to huge savings in foreign exchange for our customers and our economy.

6. “SERVO's product bouquet is getting greener to catalyze the ascent of green India”, can you please elaborate?

After directives on Circular Economy initiated by Niti Aayog, IOCL initiated blending of Greener Servo products which have potential to reduce Carbon dioxide emissions in the ecosystem by 10%. Some of our products launched in Retail market are Servo Greenmile, Servo Raftaar, Servo 4T Green and Servo Tractor Green which are being well accepted by customers.

7. What are the major technological/technical differentiators of your products and services that you are proud of?

Our Servo products are formulated with the best quality base oils and tailor-made additives. We have approvals of these products from most of the OEMs in the country including international players and these products are exported to 37 countries globally. Many of the products have been developed for Niche segments for energy efficiency and lower emissions, longer drain intervals, food grade applications etc. Our large network of testing labs and trained engineers in the field provide the best possible services to our customers in areas of condition monitoring of lubricants, troubleshooting, alternate fuels along with customer education programs.

8. How to quantify CO2 emission due to oil replacement or oil top-up?

The current trend in lubricants is shifting towards API Group III base oils which have inherently low volatility. This translates into low top up. More so, due to their better oxidation stability, they are providing longer oil drain intervals. IOCL is trying to push products which have reduced oil top up and better drain interval in its pursuit of reducing CO2 emissions as burning of used oil leads to CO2 emissions to the tune of 3.1 Kg per Kg of used oil.

9. What do you have to say about Sustainable manufacturing and reducing carbon footprints? What do you propose since IOCL was a part of the committee under Niti Aayog for reclamation of used oil/lubricants?

Sustainable manufacturing is a process which follows the basic principle of circular economy in which products must be reused to draw its useful value and reduce the CO2 emissions by avoiding the burning of used oil.

Various sustainability initiatives have been taken at IOCL for achieving net zero target by 2046. These include introduction of green lubricants, use of PCR for lube containers, solarisation of lube plants and retail outlets, zero effluent discharge plants, development of lubricants and fuels with lower emission characteristics, alternate fuel/ biofuel development including green hydrogen, waste to energy, setting up of wind farms, etc.

10. Performance-wise, how was the year 2022 for the company? What are the plans for 2023?

FY 2022 (i.e., 2022-23) was an excellent year for IOCL lubes business in which we recorded our all-time high lube sales.

For the coming FY we are planning to increase our business with focus on new areas like Wind Energy, EV Lubricants, Energy Efficient Gear Oils, Hydraulic Oils, Compressor Oils. We have also come up with a unique solution in Non-Lithium Grease technology for our customers.

11. Is there anything else you would like to add?

IOCL has planned augmentation and refinery expansion for production of high-quality Gr II & III base oils at its existing refineries at Haldia, Panipat and Gujarat. All these upgrades will come up in full stream by the next two years.