Tyre major JK Tyre and Industries Limited, part of Re 28000 cr JK Organisation, reached a historic milestone when it became the first Indian tyre company to produce 10 million truck/bus radial tyres. The company on unveiled the 10 millionth truck radial tyre from the company’s Vikrant plant at Mysuru. With one of India’s largest tyre capacities at 3.5 million truck/bus radials per annum, the JK Tyre is the undisputed leader in this vertical. JK Tyre took over the state-owned Vikrant plant and turned it around into a state-of-the-art plant with an investment of over Re 1200 cr. Today JK Tyre contributes significantly to the local economy providing direct and indirect employment to over 13000 people. Taking pride in the rare milestone by the company, Dr Raghupati Singhania, Chairman & Managing Director, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd said, “Starting 1977, when we set up our first tyre plant in Rajasthan with an annual capacity of 5 lac tyres, we have come a long way. Today JK Tyre has grown multifold by setting up green field plants, expansion of its existing capacities and acquisitions, including that of Vikrant Tyre in Karnataka, as also a tyre company in Mexico, apart from the latest one – acquisition of 3 plants of Cavendish Industries in Uttarakhand.” In the over 7.18 lakh (2015-16) commercial vehicle market in India, JK Tyre is a leader par excellence. It pioneered the radial technology in India, and was the first company to introduce Truck & Bus Radial tyres way back in 1999, and is today the largest producer in this category. JK Tyre is truly a multi-national company with 12 plants globally with a future ready capacity of 350 lac tyres per annum. After the recent Re 2200 cr acquisition of Cavendish, JK Tyre has also entered the high growth segment of 2-3 wheeler tyres. “Today we manufacture complete range of tyres – from a 3 kilo scooter tyre to the 3.7 tonnes Ultra Large OTR tyre,” added Singhania. Dr Singhania also informed that JK Tyre has completed the second phase of construction of its modern and pure radial plant at Chennai with a total investment of Rs 1,430 crore. The expansion was completed in the last quarter and makes truck radials and car radials and has a production capacity of 12 lakh TBRs and 45 lakh PCRs. The plant has a blueprint of scaling up to 2 million truck radials and 10 million PCRs. Also the capacity of the Mexico plants is under expansion. The capacity is expected to go up to 5 million tyres from the existing 3.5 million units per year.
