India Tire Exports Register Marginal Growth

The export realization in value terms had gone up 9.1% from Rs 2,383 crore in 2005-06 to Rs 2,600 crore for the year.

“The rupee appreciation against the dollar had an impact as the monetary value would have been substantially higher and may have crossed Rs 3,000 crore,” a tire industry source told Business Line.

According to information available on the Web site of the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association, exports of truck and bus tires declined 5.5% to 22,76,049 units during the year as against 24,08,759 units the year before.

Export of passenger car tires also saw a decline of 8.24% to 9,66,046 units in 2006-07 as against 10,52,874 units in 2005-06.

There was, however, a significant increase in exports of tires for light commercial vehicles, motorcycle, scooter and off-the-road (OTR) segments.

OTR segment exports were up 28.68% in 2006-07 at 43,085 units as against 33,480 units the year before. The exports in the LCV segment grew 15% to 15,99,230 units compared with 13,90,814 units exported in 2005-06. In the motorcycle segment, exports increased 78.63% to 1,51,677 units against 84,908 units the year before. The scooter tire exports grew 10.53% to 3,20,536 units compared with 2,89,984 units in 2005-06.

Currently India exports tires to around 65 countries and this is expected to increase significantly during the current financial year. Though the growth has been lower than when compared with 2004-05 and 2005-06, when the overall growth was around 7%, there is nothing to worry about as couple of companies are in expansion mode and also they are catering to the increasing domestic needs,” another industry source pointed out.

The industry also feels companies have overcome the problems they had initially and the acceptance of Indian tires has gone up in the last couple of years.

“According to estimates, major tire companies in the country export 20 per cent of their truck tire production and the continuous upgrading of quality has resulted in greater acceptance level for Indian tires in various countries,” the source said.

The notion that India exports only bias tires was also changing, the source added.

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