India
Apollo Tyres says it is “a matter of great pride” for the company that it has been named the top automotive ancillary company and 24th overall in the ranking of corporate and social responsibility carried out by India’s leading business newspaper. Hailed as a ‘definitive listing’, The Economic Times’ ET Corporate Dossier, in cooperation with Futurescape and IIM Udaipu, has published its India’s Best Companies For CSR 2014.
Tyre major MRF Ltd is reportedly increasing tyre production capacity at its eight manufacturing facilities across the country as part of its capital expenditure plan. “The company, in line with its long term strategy, proposes to increase capacities across all its existing factories,” MRF said in its reply to the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). According […]
JK Tyre has been chosen as a Superbrand for the year 2013-14 and ranked amongst the top ten per cent of all brands, across categories in India. This is the third year in a row that Superbrands India has chosen JK Tyre as a Superbrand, and so far it is the only Indian tyre brand to be chosen as a Superbrand. This year, the company improved its overall net score from 6.8 to 7.6 out of 10.
Leading Indian tyre manufacturer MRF Tyres has agreed to become an ICC global partner, which includes sponsorship of the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2015. MRF has had a long-standing involvement in cricket as bat sponsor to famous players Sachin Tendulkar and Steve Waugh. And, according to the company, MRF’s ‘Pace Foundation’ has earned itself […]
With the promise of “German engineering and technology”, adapted for local market performance requirements, Continental has launched two premium passenger car tyre lines in the Indian market. The ContiMaxContact MC5 and ContiComfortContact CC5 are being produced at a new, state-of-the-art passenger car and light truck tyre facility at the company’s Modipuram plant. The newly-built facility has an initial capacity of 800,000 tyres per annum, with potential for further expansion.
India’s JK Tyre & Industries Ltd has reported consolidated net profit of Rs 755.9 million (£7.8 million) for the three months to 30 September 2014, the second quarter of the company’s current financial year. This result represents a year-on-year increase of 18.1 per cent. The company achieved a consolidated turnover of Rs 18.7 billion (£193.5 million), up 3.6 per cent from the second quarter of the previous financial year.
Reporting from the Michelin Challenge Bibendum event in China, Indian financial daily the Hindu Business Line shares that Groupe Michelin intends to establish an R&D team in India that will develop truck tyres for the Asian market. While the publication hasn’t published the comments to this effect that Michelin CEO Jean-Dominique Senard is said to have made on 13 November, it quoted Senard as saying Michelin’s presence in India is “just beginning” and that Michelin hoped to grow its presence in India soon. The new R&D team will apparently be based at Michelin’s development centre in Gurgaon, Haryana State.
At a meeting on 30 October, the Board of Directors of Indian tyre maker Ceat Ltd approved an Rs 4,200 billion (£43 million) investment to set up a new plant for producing tyres for two and three-wheeled vehicles. This planned facility is expected to have a daily capacity of 120 tonnes. It is understood that the facility will be built in the city of Nagpur, Maharashtra State, rather than in Karnataka State as originally planned.
In February 2014, Yokohama India Private Limited reported the inauguration of its new factory in Bahadurgarh, with the Chief Minister of India’s Haryana State, Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda, doing the honours. However it seems two official openings are better than one, and Yokohama Rubber shares today that an official opening ceremony was held at the plant on 1 November. And a further ceremony – the second or third, depending on who you ask – was held the following day for tyre dealers from around India.
Commercial production has started at Yokohama Rubber’s tyre plant in India’s Haryana state. The facility, Yokohama’s first in the country, was officially inaugurated in February 2014 and undertook trial production throughout the first half of the year. Plant capacity during this initial phase of commercial production is 2,000 tyres a day. Plant output will focus on the Earth-1 tyre range, which has been specifically designed for the Indian market.
Multiple Indian news sources are reporting that Taiwanese tyre maker Cheng Shin/Maxxis is planning to invest in an Indian factory. According to one Business Standard report, group president Dr. Wally Chen called upon Gujarat chief minister Anandiben Patel on 15 October.
The organisation representing India’s tyre makers has called upon its national government to encourage rubber replantation and offer rubber growers subsidies to plant new trees. According to news published by the Press Trust of India, the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA) wants these measures implemented in order to address the reluctance of growers to plant new trees, which can’t be tapped for their first six to seven years. Without encouragement, the ATMA fears growers will continue to tap older, lower-yielding trees; the association comments that this practice is profitable for growers due to the high prices natural rubber currently commands.
It’s now almost three years since a lockout at Dunlop India Ltd’s Sahagunj factory led to its mothballing, but it appears that the plant may soon be up and running again. Responding to an article in The Hindu newspaper that suggested production is set to recommence, Dunlop India sent a statement to the BSE confirming that “yes initiatives by West Bengal labour minister Mr. Moloy Ghatak have helped us to arrive (at) the decision of re-opening Dunlop’s Sahagunj Factory in West Bengal shortly.
Dr Hidde P Smit, former secretary general of International Rubber Study Group (IRSD) and rubber market analyst, has suggested tree-felling and reduced tapping in order slow falling rubber prices.
Delivering the key-note address at the sixth edition of India Rubber Summit & Dinner 2014 organised by Rubber Asia in Kochi, India on 21 September 2014, he predicted that the low price regime could continue for the rest of the decade and even beyond. He said any intensive rubber planting done now could lead to a glut in natural rubber (NR) market after six years, bringing the prices down further. He added that world NR consumption is expected to touch 18.6 million tonnes by 2025, while NR supply may exceed demand at 19.3 million tonnes by 2025 and 20.2 million tonnes by 2030. However Indian market representatives disagreed, pointing to the Indian example and suggesting the rising supply deficit could be bridged only by boosting production.
Following the conclusion of Citexpo 2014 on 11 September, all initial figures point to the event being the most successful in the international tyre show’s history…by some way. Indeed, with this year’s unaudited visitor total said to have been around the 11,000 mark, the 2014 show could have grown by as much as 50 per cent since the last event, which attracted just over 7,000 visitors.
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