Goodyear Invests £5.7 million in Indian Retail Network

Goodyear India Ltd. is to invest 500 million rupees (£5.7 million) in strengthening its Indian retail operation in order to capitalise on the country’s rapidly expanding automotive market. Goodyear India will set up 50 shop-in-shop branded stores by the end of 2006 and at least 250 more by end-2008, according to the local news reports.

The manufacturer also said it is aiming to generate sales of 10 billion rupees (£114 million) this year. “We had sales of about 9 billion rupees in 2005/06 and hope to cross the 10 billion figure this fiscal,” Goodyear India and South Asia chairman and managing director Antonio Capellini told news agencies, adding: “The industry is expected to grow at around 15 per cent and we [will] grow 2-3 per cent higher than that.”

India’s tubeless radial market is growing at about 30 per cent a year. And the decisions by a number of local manufacturers to fit radials as OE is expected to support this growth.

There are nearly 9,300 tyre retailers across the country, Goodyear estimates, excluding thousands of informal sellers.

Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co’s Indian subsidiary manufactures tyres at plants in Aurangabad in the western Maharashtra state and Ballabgarh in northern Haryana state.