Apollo Tyres to invest Rs 1,800 crore for new PCR plant in Andhra Pradesh
Apollo Tyres is setting up a Rs 1,800-crore tyre factory in Andhra Pradesh. The unit will be its seventh globally and will come up over a 200-acre site in Chinnapanduru village near Sri City in Chittoor district. The facility will produce passenger car radial (PCR) tyres initially. The initial capacity will be about 5.5 million tyres per year and will serve both domestic and export markets. The construction work will start in 6 months, and the factory is expected to be up and running in 24 months. The factory will provide direct employment to 700 people.
The foundation stone for the project was laid recently by the State Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, in the presence of Onkar S Kanwar, Chairman, and Neeraj Kanwar, Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Apollo Tyres.
“While planning for this state-ofthe-art manufacturing facility, we have provisioned for the future capacity expansion requirements in India for the next 5 years and more. We are thankful to the Andhra Pradesh Government for excellent cooperation so far, and are confident of getting the same going forward as well towards the smooth construction and management of this facility. As a responsible corporate, we would be more than happy to contribute towards making Andhra Pradesh a ‘sunrise’ state,” Onkar S Kanwar said.
“We are facing some shortages for PCR requirements. Five years ago, we were a small player in the PCR segment. But today, we are Number 2 in India in the segment with strong supplies to vehicle makers and after-market demand. The brand has strengthened itself over these years in the domestic market, while our exports have also been growing,” Neeraj Kanwar said.
In 2016-17, the PCR segment accounted for 39% of the company’s revenues, which stood at Rs 13,060 crore. He said the company did not have land at Oragadam manufacturing site near Chennai to grow further as it had already expanded fully there with a cumulative investment of Rs 5,000 crore.
“In Chennai, we are producing about 900 tonnes per day. But in this new unit in Andhra Pradesh, we will be producing 180-200 tonnes a day in the first phase,” he said.
In the next phase of expansion, may be after 3-4 years, the company may look at making commercial vehicle and off-highway tyres. Kanwar also said Apollo Tyres was in the process of rolling out high-end motorcycle tyres out of its Vadodara facility.
Apollo Tyres currently has 4 manufacturing facilities in the country — 2 (including a leased facility) in Kerala, and one each in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. It has a factory each in The Netherlands and Hungary.