The Hindu Business Line : JK Tyres plans Rs 170-cr investment

JK was the only Indian company engaged in commercial production of truck-bus radials, till recently. The company has already invested over Rs 300 crore in stabilising the quality of its truck-bus radials since 2002.

"We are planning to expand our truck-bus radial capacity at Mysore from 3.7 lakh tyres a year to 5 lakh tyres," a senior company official told Business Line.

Project proposal

While the project proposal is yet to be finalised, the official said that any such project would cost approximately Rs 50 crore.

JK has technical collaboration with Continental Tyres of the UK for its radial tyres.

"We have invested over Rs 300 crore in improvement of product quality during the last few years," he said adding that the improvement was especially evident in the rising customer satisfaction in JK truck-bus radials during the last one-year.

The capacity of the traditional cross-ply tyres, however, will be maintained at 25.5 lakh.

Expansion

Meanwhile plans are firmed up to ramp up the OTR capacity (at a separate facility also in Mysore) from 25,000 to 42,000 at an estimated cost of Rs 120 crore. "The project is finalised and commissioning will begin in a month or two," the official said.

According to him, the incremental capacity would be directed in producing heavy duty OTRs. The project would aim meeting the rising domestic demand for such tyres used in mining sector.

JK is currently expanding its passenger car radial capacity by 11 lakh tyres at an investment of Rs 50 crore. The project will be completed by July 2007.

Passenger car radials are manufactured in the company's plant at Gwalior. The facility is now having a capacity to manufacture 34 lakh tyres a year.

Performance

According to figures available in NSE, JK posted a net profit of Rs 21 crore on a turnover of Rs 1,409 crore during the first half of 2006-07 between October 2006 and March 2007.

The company's shares closed at Rs 127.95 at NSE on Wednesday. The shares were down by 0.93 per cent compared to the previous close at Rs 129.15.