Lubrizol Corporation, a Berkshire Hathaway company and a specialty chemical firm has big plans for India. Close on the heels of its $350 million investment in the country, the company specialising in delivering sustainable solutions aims to double its business in India over the next five years and actively expanding its global capability center in Pune. After recently hiring 100, its targets absorbing another 250 to the 600-strong employee base in India
capacity in Chennai.
Speaking exclusively to Financial Express.com, Rebecca Liebert, President & CEO, Lubrizol said that the market in India is encouraging and they aim to localize a lot more of production.
Lubrizol India plans: To double business in 5 years
Lubrizol has made two significant announcements in the past 12 months. After the $150 million investment into CPVC across the Dahej expansion and the resin plant, it has also invested another $200 million for Additives plant. That apart the company has also invested in the recently inaugurated, “global capability center in Pune, where already 100 people have been hired in just a few months and we have another 250 left to hire,” said Lubrizol’s President & CEO Rebecca Liebert.
She has an aggressive expansion target for the business here, “I’ve challenged the team to double our business here in five years. When I speak with local Indian companies, they tell me they’re going to grow 20% a year. So 20 times five is 100 and that’s doubling the business in five years. So it may be that’s aspirational, but I think if you don’t set aspirational targets, you won’t deliver. And I know that we have a very strong team that we’re investing in and we’re putting a lot of faith and trust in to continue to get out there and grow.”
According to her, “the market is definitely here. And I think those that move with speed and are decisive and really know the market. And we can’t do that sitting in the United States. We rely on our local team to know the market. A local for local is so important for us. I look forward to coming back five years from now and saying we grew our business double.”
Talent the big advantage in India
One of the big factors that is helping Lubrizol plan the mega investment is the local aspect. Liebert pointed out that the “talent here is amazing. New ideas, fresh approaches, technical capability, very deep technical capability. And just the willingness to partner and think differently. So it’s refreshing. We think the talent is amazing. But it’s also having people that are here going to be local to help us scale quickly.”
She explained that “With $350 million of investment, we need a lot of engineering. These are big plants and they’re complex plants. So we need people that can do the engineering, that can run projects, that can manage all of the procurement spend. So having that capability set here, and then really help us set up for the future because we think the India market is going to continue to grow and expand. It’s refreshing. markets are great here.”