Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo-based Idemitsu Kosan Co., Ltd. announced last Thursday that its wholly owned subsidiary Idemitsu Lube India Pvt Ltd. has begun sale of genuine oil to dealers of Japanese motorcycles and automobiles, following completion of its lubricants plant at Patalganga Industrial Estate, Khalapur, Panvel, Raigarh, Maharashtra, India in August 2013. Total construction cost of the 78,000 sq. meter facility was 2.6 billion rupees (approximately 4.7 billion yen).

Demand for lubricants in India in fiscal 2012 has increased with the advancement of Japanese motorcycle and automobile makers into the market accompanying India' s motorization. India already has the world's third-highest level of lubricant demand, after China and the United States.

By fiscal 2021, India's vehicle production is forecast to increase further to 23 million motorcycles/year and 11 million automobiles/year, and the nation's lubricant demand also is projected to expand, to 1.5 times its current level or more.

"Today marks the start of production at the newly constructed lubricant blending plant—the only one in India affiliated with a Japanese company—of products that until now had been manufactured under a genuine oil technology licensing contract and the beginning of selling genuine oil to dealers of Japanese motorcycles and automobiles" said the company. This plant is intended to manufacture engine oils for motorcycles and automobiles, which are expected to see particular growth in demand in the future, and to supply high performance lubricants.

By building independent networks from manufacture through distribution and sale of its own products with the construction of its own plant, Idemitsu Lube India plans to take advantage of the new plant to further strengthen lubricant sales in India, aiming for sales volume of 70,000 kℓ and net sales of 11 billion rupees (approximately 20 billion yen) in 2018.