Castrol India shuts down the manufacturing plant at Tondiarpet in Chennai

Castrol India has decided to close down the manufacturing plant located at Tondiarpet in Chennai in the State of Tamil Nadu. The Tondiarpet plant is one the company's oldest plants in the country and was faced with a situation of high landed cost of base oil leading to a steep increase in its manufacturing cost per litre over the past several months. This had adversely affected the production activities in the plant.

Consequent to this, the company had decided to phase out the manufacturing activities at the plant and as a consequence offered a Voluntary Retirement Scheme to its employees working in the plant, to which most of the employees have agreed. The company has decided the shut down with effect from July 31, 2011. However, the company would decide at a later date the future of the plant, machinery and part of the land which it owns at this site.

Castrol India is the second largest player in the Indian lubricant industry and is the market leader in the retail automotive lubricant segment. It manufactures and markets a range of automotive and industrial lubricants.