Expansion work at JK Tyre & Industries’ facility in the city of Mysore and its new project near Chennai will be completed this year and is expected to help the company secure more than 20% of India’s tire market.
Speaking to the Hindu Business Line newspaper, company marketing director A.S. Mehta said the two projects would help the company attain a higher market share through raising the Mysore plant’s capacity from 800,000 to a million tires a year and from the 400,000 tires a year expected to be coming out of the new Chennai plant by the end of 2011.
As JK Tyre & Industries outlined last year, the new factory in Sriperumbudur, near Chennai, will produce both truck and bus radial and passenger radial tires and the plant’s commissioning will help the company reach an annual domestic capacity of 15.5 million tires by 2012. According to Mehta, the initial outlay at the plant is Rs 9.5 billion, however the total planned investment in the Chennai factory is believed to be Rs 15 billion.
Mehta discussed the two projects while attending the opening of the tiremaker’s first Truck Wheel service center in India. The marketing director told the Business Line that “the company plans to commission 10 such stores by March 2011 and add 20 more by next financial year. This is an exclusive offering for truckers and provides a very professional approach to maintenance of tires. We believe there is a demand for such specialized outlets.”
Although Mehta referred to India’s commercial vehicle tire sales as being ‘relatively sluggish’ in the final quarter of 2010, the national tire market is growing at about 10%. “We are eyeing a turnover of over Rs 6,000 crore next fiscal from the domestic market,” he said. The marketing director added that “no decision” has currently been taken on price rises to counter growing raw material costs.
Just before Christmas, the company unveiled what is said to be the largest OTR tire produced in India. Produced at the company’s Mysore facility, the 40.00-57 60PR VEM045 E4 tire is some 12 feet tall and weighs around 3,700 kilograms. This fitment is used on 240-ton dump trucks, which previously relied on imported tires.
Upon introducing the tire, JK Tyre & Industries vice chairman and managing director Raghupati Singhania said, “we embarked on this project last year as part of our expansion plans. We are happy to announce that we had succeeded in achieving in this endeavor. With this launch, we have set another benchmark in the tire industry. Our endeavor is to deliver benchmark performance in this category of products, which is used in the most grueling condition at mines and other application areas. With plans to bring in several pioneering technologies and benchmarking customer service standards there’s lot which we will roll out in future.” (Tyres & Accessories)
