Balmer Lawrie & Co. Ltd. (BL) is a government-owned oil and gas explorer and producer. It is under the ownership of Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India. It was a partnership firm founded on 1 February 1867 in Calcutta, British India by two Scotsmen: George Stephen Balmer and Alexander Lawrie. Today Balmer Lawrie is a government corporation with a turnover of ₹1612 crores and a profit of ₹232 crores as of 31 March 2020.^{[1][non-primary source needed][2][non-primary source needed]} It became a private limited company in 1924 with a paid up share capital of ₹40 lakhs, a public limited company in 1936 and then a Government of India Enterprise in 1972.^{[3][4][non-primary source needed]} During FY 2020–21, the corporation earned a revenue of ₹1,528 crore (US$200 million).^[5]

Balmer Lawrie

Balmer Lawrie headquarters in Kolkata
Type	Statutory Corporation
Traded as	BSE: 523319 NSE: BALMLAWRIE
Founded	(1867; 155 years ago (1867)) in Calcutta, British India
Headquarters	Kolkata , India
Owner	Government of India
Parent	Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, Government of India
Website	www.balmerlawrie.com

It has six Strategic Business Units – Industrial Packaging, Greases & Lubricants, Leather Chemicals, Travel & Vacations, Logistics and Refinery & Oil Field Services, with offices spread across the country and abroad.^{[citation needed]}

Balmer Lawrie has grown enormously in the last 153 years and has become the market leader in Steel Barrels, Industrial Greases & Specialty Lubricants, Corporate Travel and Logistics Services. It has very well responded to the demands of an ever changing environment and has taken full advantage of every opportunity to innovate. Balmer Lawrie also grew inorganically through various JVs over the period of time.^{[citation needed]}

Department of Investment and Public Asset Management (DIPAM) has a special focus on the divestment^[6] of this company as the government wants to exit from all the businesses which do not have any strategic importance and it is not important for the government to run those businesses.