The Indian tyre industry has been witnessing tremendous growth for the past few years on account of growth in automobiles demand, especially in passenger vehicles and two-wheeler segments. In fact, availability of raw material (natural rubber) and ultramodern production facilities has led the country to emerge as one of the world’s most competitive tyre markets. Driven by the strong demand in automobile OEM sector and replacement market, the India tyre industry has been witnessing stupendous growth from since the last two fiscal years. India’s market for radial tyres in commercial vehicles section is still in its infancy. The passenger car segment switched to radial tyres in a short period of time, with radial tyre penetration level for the category reaching 100%. However, penetration level of radial tyre has also started to increase rapidly in the light commercial vehicles and truck & bus segment. This segment will be the largest growth area over the next few years.
The tyre companies are looking for overseas plantation of rubber to meet their raw materials need which will help the companies to acquire raw material at cheaper prices. Further, tubeless tyres are gaining ground in Indian market as almost all the automobile manufacturers are launching their vehicles with tubeless tyres. This shows that tubeless tyre market has tremendous growth opportunity in the coming years. Moreover, top tyre companies in Indian such as MRF, Apollo tyres, JK tyres, Ceat have strong hold in the market, however they face immense competition from global tyre companies such Bridgestone, Goodyear etc. to sell their products in the Indian markets. The Indian MNCs too have set up units in various overseas countries and some like Apollo Tyres are even acquiring companies there. – Livemint.com