This is in addition to the proposed green field plant that the company is setting up in Tiruchi in Tamil Nadu.
Addressing a press conference, K. M. Mammen, chairman of MRF said that the defence tyre making unit would come up as an additional manufacturing line in one of the existing plants.
"The plant will be dedicated to aircraft tyres for the defence and we have told them that since it will be a dedicated line, they (army) will have to invest the capital, while we will manage the plant," he said. The project report for the same is now being readied.
Besides, the company also announced that the Tiruchi plant will be operational in one year’s time. "We will invest Rs 600 to 700 crore here. The plant will have a dedicated test track, and will be spread across 500 acres" he added.
The blueprint for growth has also been readied. "We are seriously looking at international presence. In ten years time, we want 50% of our revenues to come from overseas operations. It is now only 10%. To achieve this, we may have to set up a manufacturing plant overseas or acquire companies there. Today, there are a lot of companies which are up for sale in the South East Asian markets. We might acquire one of them, if we feel that it fits our bill. There is no budget earmarked for acquisitions, but we are quite serious," he said.
Interestingly, this is the first time, MRF has talked about acquisitions. For long, the company has been very conservative and acquisitions were considered a taboo. "We are changing," Mammen quipped.
MRF, which follows an October-September fiscal, has crossed the Rs 5,000 crore revenues mark in the recently concluded year. "Our accounts are yet to placed to the board, but we have crossed the Rs 5,000 crore mark," he added.
