Profit before tax declined 7.4% to Rs 288.26 crore in Q1 2023 as against Rs 311.29 crore posted in the same period last fiscal.

Total expenses increased 7.96% to Rs 1,023.24 crore in Q1 FY23 as compared with Rs 947.76 crore in Q1 FY22. Employee benefits expense was at Rs 77.77 crore (up 6.99% YoY), finance cost stood at Rs 1.65 crore (up 129.2% YoY).

Sandeep Sangwan, managing director, Castrol India, said, “While we built on the growth momentum from 4Q 2022 and registered quarter on quarter growth in 1Q 2023, our performance versus 1Q 2022 was impacted due to inflationary pressures, high input costs and fluctuating forex. We expanded our presence in service & maintenance, increasing our Castrol Auto Service outlets to over 300 and Castrol Bike Points to over 5000 across India.”

Sharing an outlook for the year ahead, Sandeep Sangwan added, “We will continue to drive consistent growth in the subsequent quarters and enhance our industry partnerships to ramp up our service & maintenance offerings and in new strategic segments such as automotive aftercare.”

Castrol India is one of India's leading lubricant companies with brands such as Castrol CRB, Castrol GTX, Castrol Activ, Castrol MAGNATEC and Castrol VECTON. The company also operates in select segments like high performance lubricants and metalworking fluids used in a wide variety of industries such as automotive manufacturing, mining, machinery, and wind energy. Castrol has a large manufacturing and distribution network in India with three blending plants and a distribution network of 350 distributors.