Birla reviving PCR plant project
Birla Tyres says it is ready to get its passenger car tyre factory project back on track, and the Indian tyre maker also intends to target export markets, including Europe, with its agricultural and other niche products.
In an article published by DNA India on 1 August, Birla Tyres CEO Arvind Singh and other representatives of parent company Kesoram Industries shared that Birla is now getting ready for the passenger car tyre segment – and will tweak its image as part of this preparation. “We currently cater to commercial vehicles, which means we mainly sell to businesses,” commented an unnamed Kesoram official. “But now, with the entry into passenger car tyres, we need to reach out to individuals and this requires us to rebrand for that purpose.”
While no details on rebranding strategies were given, Birla Tyres made one point clear. CEO Singh told DNA India that work on the 80-tonne-a-day passenger car radial project at Balasore, in India’s Odisha state, is getting underway again. Work on the Balasore plant began in 2009 but the project was mothballed last year due to market conditions. At the time, Singh said: “We have not yet decided that by when the unit would be commissioned…Last year was not good for tyre industry itself and we did not do that well either. These are the reasons why we are still not sure by when will we actually commission it.” To-date, Kesoram has spent Rs 4.6 billion (£49.4 million) on the Balasore project, and Singh says another Rs 2 billion (£21.5 million) will be spent to start commercial production within a year.
Balasore plant output will most likely be sold on the domestic market, however Arvind Singh also told DNA India that Birla Tyres has its eyes on export markets. “Globally, we are looking at niche tyre markets like farm tyres in Europe, Latin America and Africa. We plan to take our exports of tyres from the present level of Rs 600 crore (£64.5 million) annually to about Rs 1,000 crore next year (£107.5 million),” he said.
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