India
TVS Srichakra Limited is set to launch a radial motorcycle tyre range in April. Speaking to the local The Hindu newspaper, company director P. Vijayaraghavan said the new range would “initially cater to the needs of the expanding high-end motorcycles market”.
TVS Srichakra, part of the Chennai-based US$8 billion TVS Group, recently launched tractor rear radial tyres in Europe.
Auto Expo 2016 will open to the public later this week. The exhibition, which takes place in Greater Noida, near New Delhi, is said to be Asia’s largest and the world’s second-largest motor show, and attracted more than 700,000 visitors last time round. Yokohama Rubber has confirmed its presence there as an exhibitor.
India’s largest tyre maker, MRF Ltd, has announced its unaudited standalone results for the quarter ending 31 December 2015. The company reports total income of Rs 33786.3 million (£349.9 million) for the period, 2.9 per cent less than the October to December 2014 quarter. Net profit stood at Rs 3881.5 million (£40.2 million) for the quarter, 20.0 per cent higher than a year earlier.
Continental has announced plans to start production of ABS and ESC units in India in 2016. A new assembly line for ABS and ESC for passenger cars and later ABS for two-wheelers will be located in the existing Continental Automotive Brake Systems plant in Gurgaon, Haryana. Local production of the Electronic Control Unit (ECU) is planned for 2018 in Bangalore.
Indian industry association the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA) reports that exports of tyres from India decreased in the first half of the country’s current financial year, the period between April and September 2015. Exports of passenger car tyres produced in India fell 22 per cent year-on-year to 1.08 million units, while medium and heavy commercial vehicle tyre exports declined nine per cent to 968,000 pieces.
Tyrelessly, an online tyre recycling business launched by 16 year-old Delhi resident Anubhav Wadhwa, aims to collect tyres for free and generate revenue from pyrolysis and online advertising. The company, which was founded in December 2015, launched its web platform on 8 January 2016.
Titan International has filed petitions with the US International Trade Commission and the US Department of Commerce for relief from imports of off-road tyres from China, India, and Sri Lanka. The petitions were filed jointly with the United Steelworkers union and allege that imports from China and India are being dumped in the US market in violation of international trade agreements and that imports from all three countries are benefitting from improper government subsidies.
The Ruia Group has provided further information as a follow up to our news about Dunlop India Ltd. and recent proceedings in the Calcutta High Court. The Group’s vice-president of corporate communication, Dhrubajyoti Nandi, told Tyrepress.com that the reported court session of 22 December was challenged by the company before a division bench of the Calcutta High Court that same day. The division bench, shared Nandi, “ordered status quo.”
Alliance Tire Group, or ATG, calls itself the industry’s fastest-growing manufacturer of off-highway tyres. To support this expansion the company recently opened a new factory in Dahej, India. The tyre maker says the state-of-the-art 122,000 square metre plant utilises the latest manufacturing technologies and is currently able to produce 90 tonnes per day or 33,000 tonnes of tyres per annum, with capacity expected to rise to 57,000 tonnes a year by the end of 2016.
After years of lockouts, plant shut downs and operative restructuring, the Calcutta High Court has now ordered its Official Liquidator to take possession of all assets belonging to Dunlop India Ltd and to control all further company transactions.
Apollo Tyres is reportedly looking to enter the motorcycle tyre business in the first half of 2016. Indian automotive website ZigWheels writes that its sources suggest Apollo will focus on tyres for motorcycles with a 300cc and larger displacement.
The northwest region of India’s Gujarat state is home to large areas of desert where you may encounter thorny shrubs, packs of wild animals – and a state-of-the-art US$500 million tyre factory. On a 312 acre site, Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT) has erected one of the largest off-road tyre plants in the world, a facility capable of producing 325 tonnes of tyres per day. Tyres & Accessories visited in early December.
Tyre maker MRF Ltd reportedly plans to build a new manufacturing facility in India’s Gujarat state. According to a state government official quoted in The Times of India, the company is looking at a greenfield site in Bharuch.
Imports of truck and bus radials into India fell by almost a half during the June to November period. Quoting figures from the All India Tyre Dealers Federation (ATMA), business daily The Hindu writes that the number of TBR tyres imported into the country declined from 106,700 units in June to just 54,175 units in November; it reports that the decline in imports followed price cuts of eight to ten per cent that were introduced by domestic tyre manufacturers.
The chief financial officer of Kesoram Industries reports that the company will invest Rs 3 billion (£29.3 million) into passenger car radial tyre production. Tridib Kumar Das told Indian financial daily Business Standard that the investment will be made in addition to the Rs 5 billion already spent on the car radial project, and that the company intends to bring its passenger car radials to market in May 2016.
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