With the fall in raw material prices including rubber, All India Tyre Dealers Federation has asked the Government to take steps to roll back domestic tyre prices and to lift anti-dumping duty on imported cross ply nylon fabric truck tyres.
In a letter to the Secretary of Industrial Policy and Promotion, the Federation said, “To begin with, the price reduction would be in the range of 10-15 per cent for various categories of tyres in line with steep fall in raw material prices.”
Raw materials
SP Singh, Convenor, AITDF, pointed out that the prices of raw materials such as natural rubber, synthetic rubber and carbon black, which are required for manufacturing tyre have slumped to a four-year low.
The tyre prices between 2010-14 have been escalating after steep increase in natural rubber price during 2010-13 period.
However, in the last six quarters, rubber price has plummeted to ?125 per kg from its earlier peak of ?242 per kg.
Radialisation
He also called upon the Government to take steps for radialisation of commercial vehicle (CV) tyres in India, which has been growing at a snail’s pace.
He pointed out that radialisation of CV tyres in China, Thailand and even in Bangladesh and Pakistan, has touched 80-90 per cent of total tyre consumption.
However, CV tyres in India have reached less than 20 per cent of radialisation and were dominated by outdated technology based on cross ply nylon fabric tyres produced domestically.
The imported radial tyres will not only meet the Bureau of Indian standards norms, but will outperform the domestic radial tyres as per the proven usage on Indian highways, he added.