Balkrishna Tyres – Defying the Slowdown

Balkrishna Industries Limited (BKT) specialises in the production of tyres for off-road applications, including agriculture, industry & construction, earthmoving equipment, ATV and lawn & garden vehicles. Tyres & Accessories had the opportunity to meet with the India based manufacturer during Tyrexpo Africa, and the company’s senior general manager for exports, Rajesh K Vyas, stated: "Last year was a significant one for BKT. When the whole business world was under severe stress due to the economic slowdown, we at BKT took this as a period of opportunities.

We have been enjoying a CAGR of over 30 per cent for last few years, but this financial year of 2009-10 we anticipate a slight reduction on this; however I am confident that our sales will cross our target of US$300 million,” he added. “An extremely positive result in a year when global recession created uncertainty for many tyre companies.”

Only 15 years after the first exports of BKT tyres commenced, the company’s products are sold in over 115 countries throughout the world, and the lion’s share of this expected $300 million or more will be generated through sales outside of India. “Almost 95 per cent of our production is exported,” Vyas commented. “Of this, approximately 60 per cent is sold in Europe, where modern scientific methods of farming require tractors and agricultural machinery with increasingly complex tyre configurations, requiring the specialist R&D and manufacturing expertise that is offered by BKT. Other major markets for BKT are North America, Asia, Middle East followed by South America, Africa and Australia.

Mr. Vyas told Tyres & Accessories that the North American market was propelling the company’s greatest increase in sales this year, and BKT was taking steps to accommodate this. “BKT has established a base in Akron, Ohio providing service support to our distributors marketing the BKT tyre range throughout USA, Canada and Mexico,” he explained, adding: “Similarly, substantial growth will also come from other international markets. I am confident in predicting this mainly due to the turnaround of the market, as well excellent demand coming from the farming and construction industry. This has offered BKT the opportunity to develop their market share by supplying the right product for the right application.”

BKT’s home market of India is not being forgotten, either. “Though the domestic market remains secondary to that of exports, we are expediently growing our sales in India especially in the area of mining and construction as well as OE,” the senior general manager for exports said.

At Tyrexpo Africa, BKT displayed a number of recently launched tyres including, a Roadmax brand radial trailer tyre designed for high speed applications; an MPT radial for telescopic handlers and utility tractors; the Agrimax Teris radial combine harvester tyre; the Forestec radial forestry tyre; the Earthmax all steel OTR radial tyre and the R1, a conventional crossply tractor tyre with a reinforced heavy duty carcass.