Introduction to Naveen Gupta, vice president and general manager, Valvoline International Naveen Gupta graduated from Sri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University in 1978 and went on to become a member of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India in 1982. He was involved in setting up of the joint venture (JV) with Valvoline since 1995. Working with Valvoline Cummins Limited, he was promoted to Chief Executive Officer of the JV in October 1998.. In 2004, he was named vice president and general manager of Valvoline international. He moved to Ashland Inc. in the US in 2005 as Director of global heavy duty, OEM and emerging markets for Ashland Consumer Market’s Valvoline International business. He was responsible for developing the business in Europe and China and both regions now have solid foundation to build larger businesses in the future. Presently, Naveen Gupta holds the positions of vice president and general manager, Valvoline
International and has responsibility for Valvoline’s Commercial activities in Africa, the Middle East, India, Southeast and East Asia. He is based out of Lexington, USA and keeps travelling between USA and India. Naveen Gupta is a family man with two grown up sons. His wife Renu is a housewife.
Naveen Gupta
Ashland Consumer Markets Vice President and General Manager, Valvoline International
He likes to spend time reading, watching movies and playing badminton.
Ashland India’s activities in the corrosion market T. Ramakrishnan India is world leader in developing the Rayon manufacturing process technology globally. Rayon is a pioneer in Viscose Staple Fibre (VSF), a man-made, biodegradable fibre, which is widely used in apparels, home textiles and fabric. To manufacture viscose Rayon fibers, the manufacturing vessels have to withstand very aggressive chemical processes. In the past, rubber-lined steel equipment has been used for this, but recently, more and more steel vessels are replaced by fiber-reinforced plastic vessels based on Ashland’s Derakane™ vinyl ester resins technology. The Rayon manufacturing process involves highly corrosive chemical like carbon-di-sulphide, hydrogen sulphide gases, sulfuric acid and aggressive salts, and service conditions including operating temperatures to a maximum of 150 degree Celsius.
Some of the applications of Ashland’s Derakane resin products in this process are: • Derakane Momentum 411-350 resin-based ducting / piping system collecting gases and mists containing carbon disulphide, hydrogen sulphide, sulphuric acid and sodium sulphate. The gases are saturated with water and have an average temperature of 40°C with a maximum temperature of 60°C. • Derakane 510 A 40 resin-based scrubber protected by an internal corrosion barrier of Derakane 510 A 40 resin. Due to fire hazard, flame resistant epoxy vinyl ester resin has been used throughout the laminate structure and CR Liner for aggressive CS2, collection and cleaning of fumes containing a mixture of CS2/H2S. • Derakane Momentum 470-300 resin is widely used in areas with demanding conditions for spin bath solutions / scrubbing gases at high temperature between 110-150 °C .
To withstand these conditions, service equipment - from storage tanks, over spin bath pipes and fittings to air pollution control equipment including ducting, scrubbers, evaporators and heater vessels - is manufactured with Ashland’s Derakane resin.
Inside India Autumn 2013 | 2