At its annual meeting on May 27, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd.’s board of directors confirmed the promotion of Raghupati Singhania from vice chairman to chairman and managing director of the company.

During the same meeting, the Indian tiremaker released its results for the 2013 financial year, which ended on March 31. The company achieved net sales of Rs 54,050.8 million for the year, only slightly lower than during the previous year. Net profit for the 12-month period was Rs 1,055.4 million, up from Rs 110 million a year earlier.

The newly minted chairman described the year as “tough” but shared that JK Tyre & Industries intends to continue exploring new markets, including Europe.

As part of this plan, capacity at the company’s Chennai facility, which was established last year, will be doubled. “We plan to invest over Rs 800 crore (Rs 8 billion) on our Chennai plant, thereby doubling the capacity of the facility to around five million tires per annum over the next two years.”

The Chennai plant was opened in 2012 and is the youngest of the company’s six plants in the country.

Singhania said the company was focusing on markets and facilities in both the European and American regions; in addition to expanding the Chennai plant, capacity at Mexican subsidiary Tornel (purchased in 2008) will grow 25% over the coming 12 months thanks to a $25 million investment. This will give Tornel an annual capacity of 4.5 million tires.

A manufacturing presence in Southeast Asia is also in the cards, Singhania added. “We are looking at opportunities and are still to identify any target,” he commented, adding that the tiremaker may invest around Rs 1 billion to Rs 1.5 billion in this project. (Tyres & Accessories)