JK Tyre boosting car tyre capacity by 3 million units

JK Tyre & Industries intends to significantly increase its capacity to produce passenger car tyres. During an earnings call this month, managing director Anshuman Singhania confirmed that the tyre maker’s Board of Directors has approved an Rs 5.3 billion (£54.0 million) expansion of PCR capacity at its Banmore plant in India’s Madhya Pradesh state. Along with a recently commissioned debottlenecking programme, this will increase PCR capacity there by 35 per cent from its current level of around 9 million tyres per annum. Singhania anticipates the expansion becoming operational by December 2023.

Additional capacity is required to meet both domestic and export demand. According to Singhania, JK Tyre is currently utilising more than 90 per cent of its passenger car tyre capacities. He also shared that the company’s exports reached an all-time high during the financial year ending 31 March 2022, rising some 60 per cent year-on-year to Rs 18.73 billion (£190.9 million).

Capacity expansion at the Banmore facility follows JK Tyre’s Rs 2.36 billion (£24.0 million) project to expand truck and bus radial capacity by ten per cent. This Rs 7.66 billion investment is taking place alongside Rs 3 billion worth of maintenance projects, including debottlenecking, giving the tyre maker a Capex of approximately Rs 10 billion to 11 billion (£101.9 million to £112.1 million) over the coming two years.