GP Petroleums to ride on Repsol

Hari Prakash M, CEO, GP Petroleums, said with OEMs actively launching their own brands and crunching the crowded lubes space, the onus was on the company to reach the target fast. He was here to flag off its Repsol van campaign across 13 cities in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. 

The energy veteran joined the UAEbased GP Global Group company two-and-a-half years ago after having leadership stints with competitive brands. 

“The prime motivation for change is the opportunity to launch a new brand and head a listed entity,” Prakash said, highlighting the reasons behind getting out of his comfort zone and his quest to position an aspirational brand in a crowded marketplace that is pegged at 2.3 million kilo litre. 

GP Petro has a negligible share but now with a complete suite of products that cater to the automotive as well as the industrial segment, it is upbeat. Two years ago, Repsol brand only catered to the two-wheelers whereas now, passenger cars and commercial vehicles too are covered. 

“We were recognised as the fast-growing associate and honoured in Spain as the best country in terms of quality as well as growth,” he said, adding talent sourcing from companies such as Shell, Valvoline and Castrol had paved the path for a performance and market focused approach. 

On the back of aftermarket influenced by workshops and mechanics and the dwindling sales at fuel stations, the end user barely determines the lube input into engine. 

“So, dealer network is our channel route and rather than feeding the market, we are confident of reaching out to the consumer,” Prakash said, noting that the brand campaign kick-off considered these elements. 

With 80 active distributors, it plans to double it by next fiscal focusing on the top ten states including TN, AP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Haryana, Rajasthan, Orissa and West Bengal. South has shown remarkable growth, constituting 33 per cent of revenues. 

“Compared to other regions, the brand consciousness is high and value extraction is better,” he said, adding acquisition of an existing plant (50 to 80 KL per annum capacity) seemed to be a rational one than setting up a greenfield project. Its manufacturing capacity of 60,000 KL plus storage of 60,000 KL in Mumbai have made the company look down south for logistic advantage.