Ruia Company Monotona Tyres Becomes Falcon Tyres Subsidiary

India’s Monotona Tyres Ltd has become a subsidiary of fellow Ruia Group company Falcon Tyres Ltd. This arrangement allows Monotona to take advantage of the technical assistance agreement Falcon has operated with Japan’s Sumitomo Rubber Industries since 2007 and will lead to its products being marketed in the Indian replacement market under the Dunlop brand name.

Monotona, acquired by the Ruia Group in August 2006, primarily manufactures tyres for two and three-wheel vehicles and supplies both OEM customers in India plus a number of export markets. The company has production capacity of 300,000 tyres and 500,000 tubes at its plant near Mumbai. Capacity is currently being expanded by 500,000 tyres and 500,000 tubes per month.

“Now with Falcon Tyres becoming the holding company of Monotona, the combined capacity of the two companies will be 1.3 million tyres a month. Falcon itself is implementing [a] Rs 300 crore (₤44.37 million) programme to add 500,000 tyres a month to its capacity, which is expected to be operational by the end of [the] current fiscal,” said Ruia Group chairman Pawan K. Ruia. “On completion of the projects of both the companies, Falcon and its subsidiary will have a total capacity of 2.3 million tyres a month. This should be useful in carving out a bigger chunk of the replacement segment, while expanding the export destinations.”