The Hindu Business Line : Apollo plans to export off-the-road tyres

New Delhi, May 20 Apollo Tyres, the new entrant in the off-the-road tyres (OTR) category, is eyeing global business in the segment with simultaneous plans to capture a share of the domestic market.

These tyres are used in the construction and mining equipment industry.

The company is likely to begin exports in a year’s time after it begins supplying in the domestic market.

Baroda facility

Apollo’s upcoming OTR production facility near Baroda is set to commence operations by June next year.

“Apart from the initial capacity, earmarked to supply to BEML and Coal India, the remaining expansion at our facility would be essentially for exports,” said Mr Satish Sharma, Chief, India Operations.

The company’s initial capacity for OTR tyres would be 10 tonnes a day, which would be doubled in a year’s time to sell overseas, said Mr Sharma.

Over the next three years, it plans to augment this to 60 tonnes a day.

BEML and Coal India control 60 per cent of the market in the segment. In India, MRF, Ceat are some of the other players that make OTR tyres and cater to the domestic as well as export market.

Besides this segment, the company is focusing on increasing its share in the domestic passenger car tyres segment.

“Over the next two years, we plan to grab 20 per cent of the market share from the current 16 per cent in the replacement market,” said Mr Sharma.

The company would be able to do this due to its increased capacity near Baroda and the new facility in Chennai for passenger car radials.

Currently, the company sells 30-40 per cent of its passenger car tyres to car makers and the remaining in the replacement market. Apollo also plans to set up 30 retail outlets during the year to expand its after-market business.

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