The Rs 59,000 crore-turnover national oil company is effecting a 56 per cent increase in its R & D spendings in the fiscal beginning April 1. Indianoil has increased the allocation for its Research and Development Centre to Rs 100 crore from Rs 64 crore allocated for the ongoing financial year to help it grapple with its new responsibilities.

The R&D centre has so long helped Indianoil develop new products, like its `Servo' brand lubricants and the `Nutan' stove. The new avenues of research on energy is expected to throw up diverse energy options for Indianoil.The energy centre should also allow the petroleum refining and marketing company harness new business opportunities, said Indianoil sources onWednesday. The company has already begun building infrastructure and recruiting manpower for its energy centre.

It has also begun building bridges with international research organisations for `mutual advantage' in developing new sources of energy. The oil refining and marketing company has a long-term vision of emerging as an integrated energy company and has already begun diversifying into power generation. Indianoil's R & D Centre, which will be responsible for the study on new fuels, was set up in 1972, 16 years after the Indian Oil Company was born. The centre now boasts of world class facilities and has the ISO-9001 certification for its quality management system and ISO-14001 for its environment management system.The centre enabled Indianoil to evolve indigenous technology for lubricants. The company introduced the first batch of indigenous lubricants in the home market in 1974.

Servo brand automobile greases are the largest selling in the country today. The Servo brand, encompassing 450 products,are based on more than 2000 formulations developed at the R&D Centre.

The Titanium Complex Grease developed at the Centre has won international acclaim.