UAE-based lubes player German Mirror plans local mfg

The UAE-headquartered German Mirror Lubricants & Greases, which today announced its entry into the domestic market with the launch of Mirr Oils, is looking to set up a manufacturing plant to serve both local as well as export demand.
The company has partnered with the city-based AN Corp for imports and distribution and has set a target of 0.5 per cent market share by the end of next fiscal, German Mirror marketing and sales manager for Asia Pacific and Africa Kiran Hebbalkar said here.
"The plant that we are looking to set up will not only serve domestic market but also will sever Southeast Asia. The plant will be a joint venture with our channel partner AN Corp," he said, adding they are finalsing the site which may come up by 2020.

The domestic lubricant business is expected to reach 2.3 million tonne by March 2019 and the company expects to corner 0.5 percent of this.
It plans to tap automotive, marine and industrial application segments in the domestic market, he said, adding the products will be priced a "step lower" than the completion.
Its product range includes jet fuel and gear oils, specialty fluids, petrol and diesel oils and heavy duty diesel engine oil.

"We are bringing in new products. With the latest technology and our expertise, our alliance with Mirror can achieve great volumes of business"," AN Corp chief executive Aniket Jahveri said on the tie-up.

The city-based AN Corp offers a wide-range of automotive and industrial lubricants.
There are around 360 players including regional, national and multinational but there are only 25-30 companies who have pan-India presence, Hebbalkar said.
Without divulging the investment details, Hebbalkar said they will treat India as an investment market. "We are not even looking at break even in the short-term. As part of our strategy, till 2022, we will be treating India as a investment market because it has a big potential," he said.
AN Corp has already established 48 distributors across eight states--Maharashtra, Gujarat, MP, Goa, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Bengal and Odisha in the first phase.

In the second phase, it will enter the Northern markets from early next fiscal with Delhi-NCR and Punjab and by March 2019, it hopes to be present in 18-19 states with over 100 dealerships.
Mohammed Hussein Hindi, managing director, German Mirror said, "India is the third largest auto market in the world with 6 per cent global lubes market share. But it has the potential to be in the top two as the domestic lubes market has grown by 13 per cent in spite of a slowdown in the last couple of years," he said.