Chandigarh, April 17, 2025 – Gulf Oil Lubricants India Limited, a leading player in the lubricants industry, has rolled out a fresh 360–degree campaign for its flagship two-wheeler engine oil, Gulf Pride. The relaunch introduces a new look and an enhanced formulation—now upgraded to meet the latest API SP specifications. With claims of up to 10,000 km drain interval, 40% better engine protection, and insta pick-up, this is one of Gulf’s most advanced product offerings yet. These upgrades reinforce Gulf Pride’s positioning as the engine oil of choice for riders who demand consistent performance and lasting reliability.

The campaign features Gulf’s long-time brand ambassador MS Dhoni who brings to life the deep emotional bond between a biker and their motorcycle, highlighting the message – “Bike se pyaar rahega hamesha, naye jaisa.” Conceptualized as a love story between a biker and his motorcycle, the campaign celebrates the nostalgic first-bike connection every rider treasures. With its enhanced formula and new look, Gulf Pride is repositioned as the engine oil that keeps your bike’s pick-up like new, ensuring every ride feels as fresh as the first.

Taking the storytelling a notch higher, the TVC for the campaign has been directed by Bollywood filmmaker Punit Malhotra and produced by Dharma 2.0. It presents MS Dhoni in a never-seen-before romantic avatar, capturing his deep love for bikes. The film beautifully juxtaposes MS Dhoni’s passion for motorcycles with the emotional connection riders have with their two-wheelers, delivering a compelling narrative around Gulf Pride’s core promise.

Speaking about the campaign, MS Dhoni shared, “My association with Gulf Oil has been a long and special one. As a biker, I know how important it is for riders to have a machine they can rely on, that performs like new, ride after ride. Gulf Pride plays a vital role in keeping the engine smooth, the pickup strong, and extends the bike’s life—exactly what you need for a machine that becomes a trusted companion over time. The campaign beautifully essays this bond.”

Mr. Ravi Chawla, MD & CEO, Gulf Oil Lubricants India Limited added. “At Gulf, our consumers are at the heart of everything we do. Their evolving needs and bond with their motorcycles drive us to innovate continually. With the all-new Gulf Pride, we are reinforcing a trusted legacy of superior performance and unwavering reliability that bikers have come to love, reaffirming our commitment to cutting-edge engine oil solutions. This campaign celebrates the enduring rider-machine connection, perfectly embodied by MS Dhoni. By blending nostalgia, innovation, and MS Dhoni’s deep connection with motorcycles, we have tried to create a powerful narrative and a strategic campaign that strengthens our brand’s promise while deepening consumer engagement across touchpoints.”

The Gulf Pride relaunch campaign is set to roll out across multiple touchpoints, ensuring maximum reach and impact. The campaign will be aired across leading TV channels and digital platforms. Additionally, retail and BTL initiatives, including specially designed trade engagement programs and mechanic outreach activities, will further strengthen the campaign’s presence across key markets.

As Gulf’s flagship two-wheeler engine oil, Gulf Pride has been a household name among bikers for years. Now with an enhanced formulation, the oil offers 40% better engine protection, extends engine life, and ensures instant, long-lasting pick-up, making every ride feel as smooth and powerful as the first. The new packaging, launched as part of the campaign, reflects Gulf Pride’s refreshed identity and commitment to innovation.

 Gulf Oil has a rich history of innovative marketing and disruptive storytelling, making it one of the most recognizable brands in the lubricants industry. The Company’s association with MS Dhoni spans over a decade, creating a strong emotional connect with Indian consumers. With a sharp focus on innovation and consumer-first marketing, Gulf Oil continues to strengthen its position, driving brand love through engaging campaigns, high-performance products, and meaningful industry collaborations.

The fittings of the Free family give flaps new freedom in movement. This opens up more opportunities in the visual and technical design of furniture and has tangible benefits compared to hinged doors. But above all, it gives the furniture and the room undreamt elegance and lightness. With the new Free Space, Hafele offers an innovative stay flap fitting which, with its strong features and universal aesthetics, can be used in furniture across interior spaces. It immediately provides added value and more efficiency when working.

Almost 100 years of experience with furniture fittings, engineering expertise, and a close connection to the market and the people who work with furniture fittings on a daily basis led to the development of Free Space. Inspired by the requirements of the market of tomorrow Free space fulfils all demands for creative freedom and choice of design, ease of installation and convenient operation on a whole new level.

John Horn, a professor of practice in economics at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, explains how rapidly changing tariff policies add to economic uncertainty.

A lot has happened in the two weeks since “Liberation Day,” the day when President Donald Trump implemented sweeping tariffs, including a universal 10% tariff on all imports and additional reciprocal tariffs on imports from certain countries.

From a global market meltdown and unprecedented trade war to a 90-day pause on tariffs for many countries, stalled trade talks with the European Union, soaring tariffs on China and exemptions that seem to change by the hour, it can be hard to keep up.  

Below, John Horn, a professor of practice in economics at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, explains how tariff uncertainty and confusion is contributing to market volatility — and how this might impact long-term economic trends.

Why did Trump pause some temporary reciprocal tariffs last week?

I think there was a lot of pressure building up to that moment, in particular from the bond selloff and stock market. Earlier in the week, a rumor went around that tariffs were going to be paused, and that led to a huge rebound in the stock market. So that added pressure on the administration to make changes.

What is the status of tariffs currently?

It’s changing by the day. While the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs was welcome news, that’s only one piece of the puzzle. We still have 10% universal tariffs on all goods. For context, the average tariff rate on everything we import was 2.5% — and for industrial goods it was 2% — at the end of 2024. So that’s a four to five times increase. At the same time, the tariff on Chinese products went up to 145%.

How is this impacting the economy?

I don’t think the pause in reciprocal tariffs has eased any uncertainty for investors. And that shows in the stock market fluctuation. Increased tariffs mean prices and inflation will continue to rise, leading to increased risk of a recession. The escalating trade war with China, which is the second-largest importer to the United States behind Mexico, adds to those concerns.
 
The other worrying trend is the bond market, which is an important indicator of the longer-term economic outlook. The bond sell-off is likely due to other countries selling off their Treasuries as a response to the tariffs, as well as other buyers getting nervous about the long-term outlook on the U.S. economy and the ability of the U.S. government to pay off those bonds (i.e., not default).
 
Why does this matter? For starters, bond prices follow the standard supply-and-demand framework: as demand falls, the price decreases. But that decrease in price actually leads to a higher return that investors earn. That rate is determined by taking the difference between the face value of the bond (which does not change) and the price you pay (which decreases), divided by the price you pay. The face value minus the price paid is bigger, and when you divide a bigger number by a smaller number, the result is greater.

The impact doesn’t stop there, though. When interest rates for U.S. debt increase, other interest rates also rise. If they didn’t, investors would only buy U.S. debt because it would have better yields. So now credit card interest rates, mortgages and car loan rates are also going to increase. Before long, we’re headed into a recession.  
 
That also means that government debt rates will go up. That will impact the federal government down to individual municipalities because it will cost more to issue new debt to continue funding the government.

Last week, the Federal Reserve announced the consumer price index in March rose 2.4% on an annual basis, a lower rate than economists had expected. How does this factor into the overall economic outlook?  

The inflation numbers were lower primarily in fuel and transportation services, in particular, airlines. These tend to fluctuate and will likely increase again in the summer. Inflation expectations have also been increasing, according to the University of Michigan consumer sentiment survey. If the tariffs on China remain, inflation will increase because we buy so much from China. Even if we can find an alternative supplier in other countries, the prices will still likely be higher due to extra demand for those suppliers, and because they are less efficient to begin with — otherwise, we’d be buying from them already.

What do you think the administration’s end game is? Do you think this strategy could result in better trade deals for the U.S.?

The administration’s strategy is hard to figure out because it’s not clear what the objective is. It has been reported to be a return of manufacturing to the U.S., an increase in tariff revenue, a growth in the U.S. economy, a tactic to lower tariffs from other countries, among others. But these are contradictory. If we increase tariff revenue, it means we’re still importing instead of producing in the U.S. If, instead, we do grow manufacturing, then we won’t be importing as much and therefore not generating tariff revenue. If the goal is to lower other countries’ tariff rates, then we will continue to buy from them, which doesn’t increase manufacturing or tariff revenue. And tariffs are taxes, which lead to lower economic activity.
 
As for the trade deals the administration has promised, forcing negotiations is generally useful only in very tactical, winner-take-all negotiations — and it’s not always true in those cases. The general guidance for negotiating is to find win-win opportunities and to create a relationship that eases the ability to negotiate over time. International trade and relationships are long-term interactions, so negotiation strategy tends to favor relationship-building and win-win seeking. It’s not clear how the administration’s tactics will lead to those outcomes.

What would you advise businesses to do during this time of economic uncertainty?

The best thing businesses should do is to shift to a more conservative investment and spending approach. No one company can rebuild the U.S. supply chain and manufacturing sector, so being on the forefront leaves you exposed by yourself to the stormy weather ahead. Unfortunately, if every company adopts this view, then no one will take the lead to rebuild the future economic systems. Typically, these are roles the government steps in to coordinate, but this administration seems to be moving in the opposite direction — reducing the scope and actions the government takes in the economy.

Abu Dhabi, UAE – 18 April 2025: Noatum Maritime and The Arab Shipbuilding and Repair Yard Company (ASRY) have marked the operational commencement of their joint venture (JV) to provide integrated marine services in Bahrain, with the arrival of four modern tugs at ASRY’s headquarters.

The arrival of the tugs, part of Noatum Maritime’s existing fleet, was celebrated during a ceremony attended by representatives from various ministries, public bodies and leading industrial firms at ASRY’s headquarters in Bahrain.

This development follows the announcement of the JV in February 2025, which aims to expand the current marine service offering in Bahrain and across the wider region. The partnership, to be known as ASRY Marine, is aligned with both parties’ strategic goals to expand capabilities and diversify service offerings.

Captain Ammar Al Shaiba, CEO of the Maritime & Shipping Cluster, AD Ports Group, said: “The arrival and deployment of these advanced tugs symbolise the official commencement of our strategic partnership with ASRY. We look forward to utilising our decades of expertise in this field to deliver greater operational efficiency, reliability and value to customers.”

Dr. Ahmed Al Abri, CEO – ASRY said: “We take pride in setting the stage for our new partnership with Noatum Maritime through this occasion. The new tugboats feature advanced technologies that will undoubtedly support and enhance current marine services, while also enabling the introduction of new ones. This partnership is set to open new doors for marine service growth within Bahrain and across the region.”

The arrival of the tugboats signals the JV’s operational readiness, and underlines both parties’ commitment to deliver safe and efficient marine services via a sophisticated fleet.

Brussels, 17 April 2025: CropLife International has on 16 April warmly welcomed the appointment of its President and CEO, Emily Rees, to the role of B20 Sustainable Food Systems & Agriculture Taskforce co-Chair under the South African Presidency of the G20. The Taskforce will provide the G20 Agriculture Ministers with strategic recommendations for endorsement by Heads of State in November, furthering its stated purpose of promoting sustainable agricultural practices, enhancing supply chain resilience, and ensuring equitable access to nutritious food.

Building upon the work of the Brazilian Presidency last year, the South African G20 in 2025 will continue to emphasize the food security imperative as it fosters global cooperation to address the world’s most pressing challenges. The promotion of sustainable productivity growth through access to and adoption of new technologies is central to CropLife International’s purpose as it represents the businesses at the forefront of R&D in agriculture and plant-science, and as such the Association is aptly placed to once again make a meaningful contribution to the Taskforce’s work.

Commenting upon her appointment, Emily Rees said “At a time when the fragility of our environment and geopolitical systems alike becomes ever more pressing, CropLife International is honoured to once again bring both its expertise and unswerving commitment to bear in the Taskforce’s work. Last year, under the able representation of our Chairman Livio Tedeschi as co-Chair, we saw the role of sustainable agricultural productivity in fostering resilient food systems as a central theme. This year, we have the opportunity to turn this declaration of intent into a catalyst for progress. I look forward to serving the Taskforce in driving tangible and implementable outcomes to improve food security and build more resilient food supply chains”.