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A year after buying out global rights for the Ceat brand from Italian tyre major Pirelli, the RPG Group expects export revenues to touch the Rs 1,000-crore milestone this fiscal itself.
This is ahead of its initial target of three years and will mark a nearly 50 per cent growth from 2010-11 when exports stood at Rs 650 crore.
Mr Anant Goenka, Deputy Managing Director, Ceat (India) Ltd, told Business Line that new lucrative markets such as Latin America and Europe will help deliver higher volumes for both Ceat and sister brand ‘Altura'.
It will also help counter the slowdown in the domestic demand.
“This buy has opened up new geographies for us, especially for speciality tyres such as for offroad vehicles. This domestic market was down in July-August, so it helps us manage such fluctuations better.
Also, in the short-term, the rupee depreciation has given us more benefit,” Mr Goenka said.
He added, “We may open new offices in regions like South America if the volumes are significant. Since the Ceat brand has a global recognition, we will now be more aggressive.”
RPG had bought the global rights for Ceat in November last year for Rs 55 crore, before which it could use the brand name in only select markets in South Asia such as India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Vietnam.
Ceat shares at the BSE were down 1.07 per cent to Rs 74.20 on Tuesday.
New plant
Ceat's new plant at Halol is also expected to double production to maximum capacity of 150 tonnes a day by July next year, from the current 70 tonnes a day.
This will give it a larger foothold in the passenger car radial (PCR) space, apart from its current the truck/bus tyre and two-wheeler tyres.
The Rs 3,500-crore Ceat India, which was bought by RPG in 1982, also operates two more plants in Mumbai (Bhandup) and Nashik.
In all, it makes over six million tyres a year and exports to over 100 countries.
“We expect a 35-40 per cent growth in total sales this year and are concentrating on developing our brand image and building research capabilities. We're focussing more on two wheeler tyre marketing than PCR, where we currently have supply shortage. India is going to be a major export market,” he said.
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