One of the leading two-wheeler tyres manufacturers in the country, TVS Srichakra Ltd, is now focusing on gaining share in the replacement market after it has established itself as a leader in the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) segment.
P Vijayaraghavan, director, TVS Srichakra Ltd who kick-started a road show on traffic safety measures here in Ahmedabad on Tuesday, said,” We already have the highest market share among two-wheeler OEMs, however, in the after-market segment, we are currently number three. We aim to grow in the aftermarket space.” He did not wish to share the division of revenue that currently came from sale to OEMs and the after-market. The company currently caters to domestic after-market with a network of over 2,400 dealers and 34 depots.
TVS Srichakra, which markets tyres under the TVS Tyres brand, has an installed capacity of around 1.7 million tyres per month at its two plants, Madurai (Tamil Nadu) and Pantnagar (Uttarakhand).
“We had increased our capacity by around 10 per cent last year and this year too we plan to grow production by around 12 per cent,” Vijayaraghavan said adding that during the first quarter of the current financial year the two-wheeler space has registered a 15 per cent growth.
He expected the industry to clock double digit growth this fiscal, up from last year’s growth of around 7-8 per cent.
Besides, the company is also planning to focus on exporting two-wheeler tyres to countries in South America, Africa and South East Asia.
It already exports off-road tyres, forklift, agricultural tyres under the brand ‘Eurogrip’ brand to over 80 countries.
Exports currently contribute to around 13 per cent of its Rs 1,700 crore turnover. “We have started exporting two wheeler tyres since the last three years, and can see a growing demand for the same. Hence, this year, we plan to focus on two-wheeler tyre exports,” Vijayaraghavan said.
The company has also recently launched agri-radial tyres in Hanover, Germany around two months back.
Talking about natural rubber prices, Vijayaraghavan said that while prices have been high in the last two years, natural rubber prices were steady now and this has obviously brought down input costs for tyre manufacturers.
“The Chinese tyre production has come down apart from a slowdown in overall international consumption. Prices of natural rubber came down as the consumption came down, and it is not expected to go up in the immediate future,” he said.