Indian CV Tyre Market Will Be 20% Radialised by 2011

JK Tyres president Arun Bajoria has predicted that radialisation is the “next big thing” in the Indian tyre market. His comments came alongside an announcement that the company will almost double the Indian manufacturer’s PCR capacity thorough the construction of a Greenfield passenger car radial tyre factory. “We are falling short of capacity and we are planning a new plant,” Arun Bajoria, president, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd told the Hindu Business Line. Bajoria told the newspaper that JK Tyre is scouting out possible locations in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and some States in the north of India.

JK Tyres is also reportedly planning to increase is commercial vehicle tyre output. According to local news sources only 10 per cent of the company’s total output is currently radial in design. Nevertheless JK Tyres foresees a growing radialisation rate in India, with particular growth in the commercial vehicle segment: “About 94 per cent of tyres are radial in cars, but truck radialisation is just about 5.5 per cent. This should be 10-11 per cent in a few years. By 2010, radialisation in [the] truck segment will be around 20 per cent,” said Bajoria.