GP Petroleums targets turnover growth to ₹3,000 crore

what happened

Business Line reports that GP Petroleums Ltd (GPPL) is preparing the biggest transformation in its 50-year history under Dilip Vaswani, the former Chairman and Managing Director of Total India. The company aims to move beyond its largely India-focused industrial lubricants business and build an international energy and lubricants platform. Turnover could reach about ₹3,000 crore after overseas assets are integrated, compared with roughly ₹643 crore in FY26.

The plan centres on assets acquired by Incubit, GPPL’s new strategic investor, which held close to a 14 per cent stake in the company as of June 2026. The portfolio includes lubricant plants in Nigeria and Tanzania, petrol-station operations in Kenya and Uganda, a Pipavav terminal and Dubai-based MagLube. Vaswani was ELF’s first employee in India, where he built the business from the ground up, and later held Total leadership positions in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and the Philippines.

GPPL says the main growth opportunity is automotive lubricants. Its iPOL brand has an established position in industrial lubricants and rubber process oils, but the company has historically had a limited automotive presence. Automotive products represent nearly 55 per cent of India’s lubricants market and provide margins several times higher than industrial products. GPPL is redesigning distribution, strengthening its management team and using its licensing agreement with Spanish lubricant maker Repsol.

Automotive lubricant volumes across Repsol and iPOL currently total around 4,000-4,500 tonnes a year. GPPL expects them to rise almost fivefold to about 20,000 tonnes within five years. Repsol will serve as the premium brand against companies including Castrol and Valvoline, while iPOL will target mass-market customers. The company also plans to widen its distributor base and increase engagement with mechanics, who influence lubricant purchasing decisions.

In Africa, GPPL intends to lift its Kenyan and Ugandan retail network from about 40 sites to nearly 100 over the next few years and assess nearby markets. Once the current integration is completed and stabilised, it will examine Southeast Asian opportunities using iPOL and Repsol. GPPL has also appointed an AI leader and is deploying digital tools; Vaswani said the existing workforce could potentially support a business twice its current size.

why it matters

The strategy would change GPPL’s growth mix, combining international asset consolidation with expansion in the higher-margin automotive segment, African fuel retail and technology-enabled operating capacity.

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