Foundation stone laid for lubricant facility

Mumbai: Fuchs Lubricants (India) Pvt Ltd, a manufacturer of industrial and speciality lubricants, has plans to further upscale its India operations. By 2012 the company hopes to triple its investments from the current $10 million.

Fuchs India is the wholly-owned subsidiary of Fuchs Petrolub AG Germany, which has a $2 billion turnover and presence across all major markets.

The company laid the foundation stone for its greenfield facility at Ambarnath, near Mumbai. It will produce lubricating oil, speciality greases and also house a laboratory. The plant is being set up on a 10-acre plot which has been leased from Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation.

Mr Stefan Fuchs, Chairman and CEO, Fuchs Petrolub AG said the company was focussed on expanding its speciality lubricants business. The company aims to further widen its client base in steel, cement, mining and automotive sector.

Once the Ambarnath plant gets operational by mid-2009, the company could consider setting up similar manufacturing facilities near Chennai and Kolkata. The production facilities in India will also cater to SAARC countries, he said.

Mr Kersi Hilloo, Managing Director of Fuchs India, said that the country operation has achieved sales of Rs 60 crore and by 2010 the sales targeted was Rs 150 crore, he said. The company currently operates from a leased facility in Navi Mumbai and has a yearly production of about 6,000 tonnes. It offers over 10,000 products globally to various heavy and automotive industries.

Mr Fuchs said that company’s strategy is to offer niche products which have high value and not mass products which have low value, he said.“Globally the demand for the expensive bio-degradable and environmental-friendly lubricants is growing because of regulatory pressures. We want to offer such products to our customers,” he added.