Castrol: Making the best of staying put

Castrol is synonymous with lubricants in India. It has a 25 per cent share of the Rs 12,000-crore lubricant industry.  It stayed put in this country despite the unfriendly business environment which scared away many others.

Here, a 1918 Castrol ad, a year before C.C. Wakefield & Co. set up its first overseas office in India.

One of the first Castrol ads in India. In 1910, C.C. Wakefield & Co's automobile lubricants were introduced in Indian market.

A Castrol team at one of the early motorsport events in India.

Castrol ad appeared on the first BEST bus that ran in Mumbai in 1926.

Castrol plant at Magazine Street in Mumbai in the early seventies.

One of the Castrol ads in India

"Our products were priced at a 60 to 70 per cent premium compared with the competition, but the demand was tremendous as the brand equity was already built," says Ram Savoor, former MD of Castrol India.

Correction: An earlier version incorrectly described Ram Savoor as former chairman of Castrol India; he is the company's former MD. The error is regretted.

 "We were not allowed to have more than six per cent market share, and this was the time many MNCs closed shop in India and left, but we decided to stay put. This unbroken run of 100 years has got us the success," says Ravi Kirpalani, Managing Director, Castrol India.