Lubrizol Corp. announced plans to build a U.S. $200 million factory in India to make chemical additives for lubricants and automotive and industrial fluids.
The company, which is headquartered in Wickliffe, Ohio, United States, said it reached a memorandum of understanding with the government of Maharashtra state to buy a 120-acre plot for the project in Aurangabad, 330 kilometers east of Mumbai. Lubrizol aims to open the factory in 2028.
Lubrizol did not disclose details of materials that the plant will manufacture, but it did say the facility will become its second largest globally. It did say that the factory will be built in stages and that it may eventually make materials other than lubricant additives.
Officials said the company is undertaking the project to increase its local capacity to make additives in the world’s third-largest lubricant market.
“Lubrizol understands the importance of a local-for-local approach, from India-based manufacturing to in-region innovation to continued investment in a local talent,” Managing Director for Lubrizol India, Middle East and Africa Bhavana Bindra said in a news release.
“The growing transportation and industrial markets in India represent a tremendous opportunity, and Lubrizol is thrilled to be a part of the bright future of these industries,” added Nitin Mengi, vice president of Lubrizol Additives IMEA and chairman and managing director of Lubrizol India.
While indicating that the facility will make materials mostly for the domestic market, the company said it will also export to other countries in the region.
The Aurangabad factory would be the latest in a string of recent Lubrizol investments in India. Last year the company pledged to spend $150 million on: a chlorinated polyvinyl chloride plant in Vilayat; an expansion of a Lubrizol Advanced Materials factory in Dahej; and a lubricating grease laboratory in Navi Mumbai.