The Indian tyre industry which presently registers about 20 percent of its overall revenues from its export business, is likely to see this share grow to 30 percent by 2030. “We are fortunate to be in the right place at the right time. We see India growing rapidly in the decade ahead, and the tyre industry is aligned with it,” said Satish Sharma, chairman, Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association (ATMA).

“We believe India has a strong chance of becoming a $8 trillion economy by 2030 and the tyre industry, which normally does better than GDP growth rate by about two or three percent, could attain levels of Rs 1,60,000 to Rs 2,00,000 crore by that time, depending upon whether the GDP grows at 6.5 percent or faster,” he said at the ATMA annual convention in New Delhi on Feb 7.

Sharma, who is also the president for Asia-Pacific, Middle-East, and Africa regions at Apollo Tyres, said that there are multiple factors at play that are likely to contribute to the Indian tyre industry’s accelerated growth, including the cost of logistics, which is likely to come down and make Indian tyre manufacturers more competitive compared to their global peers, and enable them to export more out of the country.

“There is a basic principle in manufacturing that it always flows to the lowest cost centre. With high levels of automation, renaissance with manufacturing, cost arbitrage and the wide talent pool available in the country, we have been able to elevate the quality of our products, which has pushed the Indian tyre industry to become a great manufacturing destination,” Sharma said and also pointed out the huge enablement role of regulations – BS VI emission norms – that are structurally driving exports out of India by making Indian vehicles at par with those in key markets around the world.

“We believe we can be the next claimant in the world market and get a fair share of it. We can increase our share of global trade which is currently pegged at three percent to six percent in this decade. While we have doubled it in the last four years, we can do the same over the next five years,” he added.

This feature was first published in Autocar Professional's February 15, 2023 issue.