By Bl Kolkata Bureau

Copyright thehindubusinessline

Diversified PSU Balmer Lawrie & Co is planning to exit its refinery and oil field services business gradually as it is not viable for the company to run the business going forward.

“Our plan is to exit this (refinery and oil field services) business. Over a period of time, there has been a lot of pressure on this segment coming out of MSME. And for us, it is not really viable to run this business,” Balmer Lawrie & Co Chairman and Managing Director Adhip Nath Palchaudhuri said on Thursday.

Palchaudhuri said the refinery and oil field services has always been a very small business for the company. “We are not taking any future orders. We are not bidding for any further projects. So we are kind of tapering this business down,” he informed.

The company’s refinery and oil field services (ROFS) is engaged in the activity of mechanised oily sludge processing and hydrocarbon recovery from crude oil storage tanks and lagoons. “This activity pertaining to oily waste recycling through recovery of hydrocarbons, is a niche segment in the oil & gas industry and ROFS has been the pioneer and market leader in the field over the last two decades. The financial and operational performance was lower than budgeted estimates due to lower market demand and price sensitivity in the market due to high levels of competition,” the company said in its latest annual report.

The Kolkata-based company, which is currently handling finished steel cargo through rail logistics, is also looking to enter into long haul transportation of other commodities like fertiliser and chemicals.

Steel cargo

It is currently handling finished steel cargo from the Rourkela steel plant of SAIL under the Liberalised Special Freight Train Operator (LSFTO) Scheme of Indian Railways. “We will be more opportunistic. We will probably be reacting and responding to market triggers,” the CMD said.

The company’s travel and vacations business got impacted to a “reasonable extent” because of the Pahalgam terrorist attack in Jammu and Kashmir, and subsequent military action “Operation Sindoor” launched by the Indian Armed Forces.

“It’s not been very easy. But having said that the way the numbers are held out, it speaks of the resilience of our company,” Palchaudhuri said.

Balmer Lawrie is an authorised travel agent of the Government of India. The CMD said the travel and vacations segment is not likely to face a “very significant impact” due to a new $250 “visa integrity fee” imposed on travellers by the US.

“Within the holiday business, our larger and more popular destinations have been Europe and Asia. So to that extent the US has not been a very major destination for us. So I’m not expecting it to have a very significant impact under any circumstances, at least in this particular year, for sure. But still, it is very, very early days,” Palchaudhuri added.

The company is planning to expand its B to C offerings within the travel and vacations segment by strengthening branding and technology.

It currently has a portal through which individual travellers can purchase air tickets and book hotels.

Published on September 25, 2025