‘We have made our space in Nepal and we won’t hurry’

Kalyan Roy Vice President  Tide Water Oil Co (India) Ltd

Kalyan Roy is the Vice President of Tide Water Oil Co. (India) Ltd, North and East division, a manufacturer of automotive lubricants and automotive and industrial greases. Tide water is one of the companies of Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd, an Indian manufacturing and industrial conglomerate, owned by the Indian Government. Roy joined the company in 1987 as an assistant manager in Sales Department after years of service in various other companies in India. Mechanical engineer by profession, Roy is originally from Kolkata. In an interview with New Business Age, Roy shared his expansion plans in various countries including countries in South Asia Region. Excerpts:

Could you please tell us the reasons of your visit? 

We have already started marketing our products in Nepal. I came here to attend the meeting with the dealers and sales officers in Nepal. 

Could you please tell us about your company and products? 

This year we are celebrating 150 years of Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd. There are different divisions like tea, engineering, electrical, printing press in the company. Tide Water Oil Co. (India) Ltd, another company in Andrew Yule & Co. Ltd was established in 1928. We are manufacturing and marketing lubricants in India since then. In 2012, we took over a company called Veedol International from British petroleum. Now we have started expanding our business outside India with the brand name Veedol.

How does your product help the organizations? 

All our products are world class and we are also having technical tie up with a renewed Japanese company, JX Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation. Being an international company now, we make the best lubricants in the world. People in Nepal would get quality product at a reasonable price. We have started educating users and the mechanics about our products to be used in particular vehicle. We want people to understand right product for the right vehicle so that they would get maximum benefit of our products they buy. 

How do you find the level of competition in Nepal? 

Competition is quite fair. There are other products like Castrol, Servo among others in lubricant products. Now we have made our space in Nepal and we won’t hurry. We want to create the pool first so that we could build good relation with our customers.

How are you expanding your products South Asian Market? 

In South Asia, we have started with Bhutan and Bangladesh and Nepal. And now we are starting in Thailand. Talks are going on with Myanmar, Indonesia etc. We will cover these countries one after another. 

What are the business plans for your company? 

The sky is the limit and we have big plans for our expansion. We have started our marketing with Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Dubai and now planning to expand in European countries. The whole world is open for us after acquiring this international company Veedol. Our target market is Europe and South East Asia then we will go to Canada and Mexico. The first phase of marketing campaign in Middle East is already done. Second phase is Europe and South East Asia. The third phase would be in Canada and Mexico.