The Indian tyre industry is integrating fast with global supply chains helped by the globally aligned regulatory environment in the country that has led to an increase in the addressable market for Indian manufactured tyres. Tyre exports from India went up by 50 per cent last year and the industry is likely to close the ongoing financial year with nearly 15 per cent growth, said Satish Sharma, Chairman Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA).
He was speaking at ATMA Partners’ Summit 2023.
What has helped the industry maintain growth momentum both domestically and in the export markets is the consistent support by raw material partners who have stood steadfastly with the industry at a time when supply chains got disrupted earlier due to Covid and then due to geo-political concerns, he said.
Evolving industry
Notwithstanding challenges to the global economy due to recessionary conditions, rising interest rates, and political turmoil, which have led to the slowing of external demand, Indian tyre exports have held on their own. Tyre exports from India went up by 15 per cent during April-December FY23, as per the latest statistics from the Commerce Ministry.
India exported tyres worth ₹17,816 crore in the April-December 2022 as against ₹15,507 crore in the year-ago period.
The automotive world continues to evolve and continues to put more demands on the tyre industry and its supply chain partners. India has witnessed compression of the emission norms lifecycle by going straight from BS4 to BS6. A lot of that responsibility is now falling on the tyre industry. Auto OEMs are expecting the tyres to contribute in a very significant way to meet the exceeding demands now being put on them. There are enough regulations happening on the noise front, rolling resistance etc and it is imperative for the tyre industry’s supply chain partners to enable the industry to meet these requirements, Sharma said.
The tyre industry, which has completed an investment of over 35K crore in new capacity creation and debottlenecking in the last three years is poised to meet the demands of a growing economy, ATMA Chairman said.