French tyre maker Groupe Michelin will soon set up a team in India to research and develop truck tyres for the Asia market, Groupe Michelin CEO Jean Dominique Sennard said here on Thursday. Michelin has a manufacturing presence in India with a plant in Tamil Nadu, which makes only truck tyres.

He was responding to a query on whether Michelin will respond to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's 'Make in India' initiative and convert Michelin into a global manufacturing hub for the mobility giant, one of only two tyremakers in the world manufacturing the entire range from bicycle to spacecraft tyres.

While manufacturing activity in India is unlikely to be scaled up to a global production centre anytime soon, Sennard said their India presence was “just beginning” and that Michelin hoped to grow its presence in India soon.

On the Make in India initiative, Sennard said that the revolution that the new government is planning is huge but it is possible.” He said that for Michelin to scale its work in India, “we need to have infrastructure in the country. If there is no environment in terms of infrastructure, it makes our work difficult.”

However, Sennard praised the technical skills available in India, and pointed out that the renowned Indian scientist Dr RA Mashelkar was one of the members of Michelin's Group Innovation Board. He indicated that India's talent pool was one of the reasons for locating the development team in India. The team is likely to be built up at Michelin's development centre in Gurgaon.

Michelin executives said that the focus will remain on truck tyres in India, where the tyremaker sees “huge” scope in converting the largely conventional-technology, cross-ply truck tyre market into a radial tyre market. Michelin invented the radial tyre in 1946 and remains one of the biggest players in the tyre industry, with an annual output of 171 million tyres and 2013 sales of over Euro 20 billion.

He was addressing the press at the Michelin Challenge Bibendum, a bi-annual meet of players in the automotive and mobility sectors, policy makers and researchers on the theme of sustainable mobility.

(The writer is in China on an invitation from Groupe Michelin.)

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