Passenger Car Tyres a Possibility for Dunlop India

Speaking to media in Mumbai on December 4, Ruia Group chairman Pawan Kumar Ruia indicated he is “very bullish” on the tyre industry and that Dunlop India is considering entering the passenger car tyre segment. “We might look at getting into passenger car tyres whenever we consider an expansion in Dunlop,” Ruia stated. “This will be when we reach 130 tons a day capacity at both the Dunlop plants.”

Currently Dunlop India is producing 40 tons per day at its Ambattur commercial vehicle tyre facility and a further 40 tons per day in its recently re-commissioned Shahaganj plant. According to Ruia, the full capacity of 130 tons per day at each of these plants will be utilised some time next year. At Shahaganj, this 130 tons will be made up of 100 tons of commercial vehicle tyres per day, 20 tons of OTR tyres and 10 tons per day of industrial tyres. “We expect the plants to stabilise in the next four to six months,” said Ruia. “Once that happens, reaching 130 tons a day capacity at both the plants will not be all that difficult.”

Further additional capacity at Dunlop India is, admittedly, not a current priority. “Dunlop will not go for expansion right now,” Ruia noted. “We are planning to set up a 50 Megawatt captive power plant for Dunlop at the Shahaganj plant. It will cost us Rs 2.5bn (£32.3 million). The plan is at a drawing board. We have already obtained required permissions. This will take another one to one and a half years of time. Not all power will be utilised by Dunlop. Extra electricity will be sold out.”

Expansion is, however, taking place at the Ruia Group’s Falcon Tyres unit. “We are expanding the capacity at Falcon by an additional 500,000 tyres a month,” said Ruia. “Once this is completed, this will be the largest two and three-wheeler tyre capacity in India. The construction is underway and production of the newly expanded capacity will start in another five to six months.” Total Falcon expansion plans are expected to cost Rs 3 billion (£38.7 million) and focus on increasing cross-ply tyre capacity. Ruia notes, however, that in the near future market demand will be for radials, and therefore subsequent expansion and development will exclusively focus upon radial products. These will be developed through Falcon’s technical tie-up with Sumitomo. According to Ruia, the company is in “talks with Sumitomo and others,” however no specific details of these discussions were given.