Indian tyre makers call for increased support from raw material suppliers

The second edition of ATMA Partners Summit, held in New Delhi, culminated with a call for better synergy and collaboration between tyre industry and raw material partners so as to develop products that set a new benchmark of quality, technology, fuel efficiency and environment protection.

The government of India has recognised the domestic tyre industry’s potential and its capacity to become a growth engine for the manufacturing sector. Dr. Vandana Kumar, joint secretary, Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion, while delivering the theme address, said, "The outlook for tyre sector is highly positive."

"The tyre industry is on the cusp of significant growth as the government’s  focus on infra and road development is unmistakable. The support of raw material partners is vital to meet the ever- rising expectations of the auto sector and customers from the tyre industry," said Satish Sharma, chairman, Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) in his keynote address.

Welcoming the delegates, Mohan Kurian, convener, ATMA Supply Chain & Resources Group, said, “Partners’ Summit celebrates the longstanding and time-tested relationship between the industry and raw material partners. The second edition of Partners Summit is sharply focused on developing self-sufficiency in sustaining the tyre industry value chain.”

“The summit explored how the stakeholders in the tyre value chain could together respond to the fast unfolding changes, benefit from the emerging opportunities and work towards creating a more sustainable ecosystem”, said Rajiv Budhraja, director general, ATMA.

Three international experts made a presentation each on carbon black (Ranjan Ghosal, head, Global R&D, Birla Carbon), Rubber Chemicals (R M Gadgil, president - marketing NOCIL) and Silica (R Muralidharan, business head, Evonik India).

The tyre sector is a raw material intensive industry with raw materials alone accounting for 60 percent of industry turnover. The summit was organised to facilitate an open discussion on how India could achieve self-sufficiency in sustaining the tyre industry’s value chain. Accordingly, only those raw material partners who have a production base in India were invited for evolving a roadmap for the future.

ATMA is the apex industry body representing the Rs 53,000 crore (US$ 8.5 billion) automotive tyre industry. Eleven large tyre companies comprising a mix of Indian and global tyre majors and representing over 90 percent of production of tyres in India are members of the association. They comprise  Apollo Tyres, Birla Tyres, Bridgestone India, Ceat, Continental India, Goodyear India, JK Tyre & Industries, Michelin, MRF, TVS Tyres and Yokohama.