JK Tyre calls for tariffs on Chinese tyres, release quarter results

The latest quarter figures for JK Tyre & Industries were released along with a challenge for India’s government to impose tariffs upon tyres imported from China. Company chairman and managing director Dr Raghupati Singhania stated on 4 August that the “menace” posed by the “dumping of Chinese tyres” continues “unabated”. He added that “urgent steps are required to impose [an] anti-dumping duty to ensure a level playing field in the marketplace.”

The tyre maker also reported it would introduce new product ranges “in different tyre categories in the near future.” During the conference call that followed the release of JK Tyre’s quarter results and accompanying statements, president Arun K Bajoria gave further details of the company’s intentions. He shared that JK Tyre wants to enter the two-wheeler and three-wheeler tyre segments and is currently test marketing a range of products. “We plan to enter in a bigger way this area,” he said.

JK Tyre’s consolidated financial results for the three months to 30 June 2015, the first quarter of the company’s financial year, included net sales of Rs 17.60 billion (£176.4 million),down 5.1 per cent on the same period in 2014. Consolidated net profit, on the other hand, rose 113.1 per cent year-on-year to Rs 1.2 billion (£12.0 million).

Commenting on this positive bottom line, Singhania said “JK Tyre continues to realise value by enriching its product mix and offering new, technically advanced products to consumers across the product categories.” Bajoria added that “better product mix led to an increase in profitability.” He reported that JK Tyre’s product mix ration of radial and cross-ply tyres in now 50:50.