Balkrishna Industries Ltd (BKT) is targeting a place among the top three tyre brands in consumer recall as it steps up its business-to-consumer push in India, with digital marketing, artificial intelligence and community-led engagement becoming important parts of its brand-building strategy.
The shift comes as the company expands beyond its traditional strength in off-highway tyres into two-wheelers, commercial vehicles and passenger cars, requiring it to reach a much larger base of individual consumers.
“We want to be one of the most loved brands within the B2C space,” Mahesh Koppad, Chief Marketing Officer at BKT Tyres, told Autocar Professional. “We want to be in the top three brands when it comes to consumer recall.”
Historically, BKT primarily spoke to institutional customers, distributors, farmers and mining companies. Its new consumer business means it must increasingly engage with two-wheeler riders, car owners and fleet operators.
The marketing push is closely linked to BKT's broader growth plan. The tyre maker is targeting revenue of around ₹23,000 crore by FY30, compared with roughly ₹10,600 crore at the start of the five-year plan. It expects its on-highway tyre business to contribute about 20% of revenue by FY30 and is targeting around 5% market share in the segment.
BKT has adopted a modular approach to the new business. Its commercial vehicle radial tyre pilot was launched in Q4 FY26, while the premium passenger-car radial tyre pilot is scheduled for Q3 FY27. The initial focus for both is India's replacement market.
The company also relaunched its two-wheeler tyre business in February 2026 and has created a dedicated team to focus on its B2C and on-highway businesses. It is also expanding its consumer tyre portfolio and distribution network as it increases its focus on the segment.
Strong Auto Demand Supports B2C Push
BKT's consumer push comes against a strong domestic vehicle demand environment, with the automotive industry entering FY27 after record sales across major segments.
In FY26, domestic passenger vehicle sales rose 7.9% to a record 46.43 lakh units, while two-wheeler sales increased 10.7% to 2.17 crore units, according to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers. Commercial vehicle sales grew 12.6% to 10.80 lakh units. SIAM said passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and two-wheelers all posted their highest-ever annual sales during the year, with demand benefiting from GST rationalisation and repo-rate cuts.
The momentum has carried into FY27. India's passenger vehicle sales rose 25.9% year-on-year to 12.74 lakh units in Q1 FY27, while two-wheeler sales increased 20.3% to 56.29 lakh units. Commercial vehicle sales rose 18.3% to 2.65 lakh units.
The growth continued in July, with passenger vehicle sales rising 34.3% to 4.58 lakh units, while two-wheelers grew 22.6% to 19.23 lakh units and three-wheelers increased 33.4% to 92,560 units.
When asked whether the company expects any impact on demand from conflict in West Asia, Koppad said BKT has so far not seen a material hit to Indian demand.
“As of now, we don't see any impact of that in the demand that we see in India,” he said, adding that the company continues to see growth in both automobiles and tyres.
However, strong demand is being accompanied by a sharp increase in input costs.
The West Asia conflict has disrupted oil flows and shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude rose above $94 a barrel on August 20, its highest level in three weeks, while oil shipments through the strait remained well below pre-war levels.
Higher crude prices matter for tyre companies because several inputs, including synthetic rubber and carbon black, are linked to petroleum prices. Natural rubber, steel, freight and energy costs have also been volatile. In July, JK Tyre said its raw-material costs had increased by more than 20% amid the oil rally, logistics disruption and higher costs for rubber, carbon black and steel.
BKT has itself raised tyre prices by around 5% in stages during Q1 FY27. The company has said raw-material prices increased about 5% on its cost base, potentially creating an impact equivalent to around 3% of sales. Management expects part of that increase to be offset by pricing but has warned of continued margin pressure.
The pressure is industry-wide. CEAT had already taken cumulative increases of around 5% by the end of Q1 and indicated further increases in July and August, while JK Tyre said in July that it expected cumulative price increases of 11-13% by the end of September.
Despite the cost pressure, BKT's Q1 FY27 standalone revenue rose 24% year-on-year to ₹3,409 crore, while EBITDA increased 7% to ₹703 crore and profit after tax rose 50% to ₹432 crore. Its EBITDA margin, however, contracted 315 basis points to 20.61%. OHT volumes rose 16% to a record 93,770 tonnes.
Against this backdrop, Koppad said marketing expenditure will continue to follow the company's long-term business strategy rather than short-term changes in demand.
Digital-First Marketing
As its consumer business expands, BKT is also changing the way it allocates marketing across media.
Koppad said television was the lead medium when BKT launched its broader brand refresh because the campaign had to reach customers as well as dealers and other channel partners. Digital and public relations supported the campaign.
For more targeted consumer communication, however, the company is increasingly adopting a digital-first approach. “We are also leaning more towards digital-first approach. And TV will be used as a medium to complement the overall reach,” Koppad said.
The strategy will vary depending on the customer. Agricultural communication, for instance, is likely to remain television-led because of the medium's reach in rural markets, while two-wheeler campaigns can rely more heavily on digital channels.
BKT's YouForward initiative, aimed primarily at two-wheeler users, was designed as a digital-first campaign.
Shift From Google to AI Search
The company is also preparing for changes in the way consumers research products online.Koppad said tyre discovery has moved progressively from conventional internet search towards video and, increasingly, AI platforms.
“Earlier it used to be Google search, then it moved to YouTube search, now it is AI search,” he said.
BKT is looking at how the brand can be represented in AI-led consumer conversations and is also using AI for content creation and optimisation.
The company is developing an omnichannel AI chatbot that could allow consumers to explore products and ask questions through its website and WhatsApp. The chatbot is currently under development and is not yet live.
Rider Communities Emerge as Influencers
BKT is also betting on rider communities as consumer behaviour in the two-wheeler tyre market evolves.
Tyres have traditionally been a relatively low-involvement purchase, often bought after a mechanic recommends replacement. But Koppad said a section of consumers increasingly research tyres online, check reviews and arrive at the point of purchase with a shortlist of brands. Rider communities are becoming part of that decision-making process.
“We are also looking at actively engaging with these communities, where the idea is that we want to make them our advocates, feel the product, understand the product, share their testimonials,” Koppad said.
BKT is mapping the consumer journey across search, e-commerce reviews and point-of-purchase interactions. It also wants engagement to continue beyond the sale, including through feedback, service communication and tyre-replacement reminders.
The aim is to convert existing users into advocates who can influence other buyers, reducing customer acquisition costs over time.
Tier-II, III Markets Provide Early Traction
BKT's long presence in agricultural tyres is also giving its new consumer business an advantage outside India's largest cities.
Koppad said the company is seeing early adoption in Tier-II and Tier-III markets, where customers already have some familiarity with the BKT brand because of its presence in the agricultural segment.
“Right now I would say, we are seeing early adoption coming from tier two, tier three markets, because we already have a strong residual equity of BKT from the agri segment,” he said.
Urban markets are relatively newer territory for BKT's consumer brand and therefore require greater awareness-building, although Koppad said the company is also seeing growth there.
The company is simultaneously expanding its distribution network and adding products to its consumer portfolio.
Sports Remains Long-Term Brand Investment
Even as BKT shifts more consumer marketing towards digital platforms, sports will remain a core part of its broader brand strategy.
The company has more than 40 sports sponsorships globally, according to Koppad. In India, its involvement in T20 cricket is now in its sixth year.
Rather than treating cricket as one blanket sponsorship, BKT works with individual teams and creates content tailored to their respective fan bases. Koppad said the company currently has sponsorship arrangements with about 8 teams.
Sports partnerships are also evaluated over a longer period rather than primarily on immediate sales leads.
“The third important thing for us also is the long-term commitment,” Koppad said, adding that such partnerships typically run for five years or longer.
Marketing Returns to Shift From Awareness to Conversion
BKT's measurement of marketing returns is also expected to change as the consumer business matures.
Koppad said the current phase is largely about building awareness in a crowded tyre market. Over time, particularly as passenger-car tyres enter the portfolio, the company expects to focus more closely on lead generation, conversion, consideration scores and brand affinity.
BKT is also working with partners to build a hyperlocal performance-marketing system that could connect digital leads more directly with the point of sale.
Marketing expenditure itself is expected to become more calibrated as awareness improves and the consumer business gains scale.
“As the business scales up, as the brand awareness grows, over a period of time, definitely the marketing expense will be calibrated, to ensure that it falls in line to a certain percentage of business,” Koppad said.
For BKT, the challenge is therefore larger than launching new tyre categories. It needs to transfer the recognition it has built over decades in off-highway tyres into a consumer market dominated by established brands with large dealer networks and high recall.
Its strategy is to combine that existing brand equity with digital discovery, AI, rider communities, sports and a wider distribution network, while gradually shifting marketing from broad awareness towards measurable customer acquisition.
With inputs from Nayan Jain