Lockout Declared at Birla Tyres Plant

India’s Kesoram Industries Ltd has notified the Bombay Stock Exchange of the declaration of a lockout at its Birla Tyres plant in Orissa as of July 16. This measure has been taken, the company says, in response to a strike that took place the previous day. In a corporate filing, Kesoram stated the workers “are forcibly squalling inside the factory premises of the said section in an illegal manner.”

The Balasore plant, one of two the company operates, was commissioned in March 1992 in a joint venture project with Pirelli. As of March 2010 plant capacity stood at 271 tonnes per day. Tyre operations at Balasore and the newer facility in Uttarakhand is Kesoram’s flagship business; in its 2009-2010 annual reports, Kesoram reported that tyre and related sales accounted for 56.76 per cent of the company’s Rs 50.2 billion (£698.3 million) total sales. It also said the company’s relations with its tyre employees have been “cordial and conducive to growth during the year.”