JK Tyre Greenfield Plant to be Completed by 2012

India’s JK Tyre & Industries has outlined plans for a new greenfield facility capable of producing 2.5 million passenger radials and 400,000 truck and bus radials per annum. “We will set up a greenfield plant near Chennai and invest Rs 930 crore (₤136.7 million) in that. The plant will be completed by 2012,” JK Tyre & Industries Vice chairman and managing director Raghupati Singhania. JK Tyre & Industries has reportedly already acquired more than 100 acres of land for the factory. According to the company’s president and director, Arun K Bajoria, just under a third of the total planned investment will be funded through internal accruals and the rest will be raised from various financial institutions.

The company currently produces 16.3 million tyres per annum, 9.7 million of these in India and the remainder in Mexico. JK Tyre & Industries acquired Mexican tyre maker in mid-2008. “By this fiscal-end, we will add seven lakh (700,000) units more capacity in India. The domestic capacity will finally reach 1.25 crore (12.5 million) tyres every year in 2012,” Bajoria added. Last year, the company announced it would invest Rs 12 billion (₤176.5 million) over the next three to four years in capacity expansion projects.