Page 42 - RB-94-20-3

INDIA
Deb Kumar Ghosh, Managing Director, TyreEX
business,” he emphasised.
The Shamli plant produces 100 patterns of tread rubber on four presses, and almost half of the production is shipped to the African markets. “We have an agent based in Nairobi, Kenya to supply in the East African markets of Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda,” he informed. Surya Rubber is promoting its tread rubber under the ‘Ultra’ brand for
to promote the domestic tyre industr y. The move is expected to impact tyre imports largely from China.
“Recently announced import curbs on certain categories of tyres will surely impact the retreading sector positively as it will completely stop the entry of Chinese tyres in the countr y, and fleet owners will have no choice but to deploy only branded tyres, good for
usage on truck and bus fleets. Recently, India banned the import of certain types of pneumatic tyres, shifting from a free to a restricted import category as per Director General of Foreign Trade (DGFT) notification. These tyres are used in motor cars, buses, lorries and motorcycles
multiple retreading,” he explained.
According to him, thecountry’s finished rubber product exports would drastically improve if duty drawbacks increased to the earlier level of 6.5%, which has been reduced to 1.5% by the government recently.
The retread site based at Midnapur in the Eastern state of West Bengal currently operates on a solitary four-tyre autoclave sourced from MRF. The revamping involves an additional 4 to 6 tyre-chamber.
The plant opened in 1992, almost 30 years ago at Midnapur, which is about 140 km from Kolkata, Capital of West Bengal. The site retreaded 700 tyres in a month, when business was at its peak about five years ago.
Since then, production has fallen to 50% of what it used to be. Despite government claims of ease of doing business post implementation of GST, the business has come down drastically, in addition to ever
“Most of the fleet owners prefer to have new tyres to cope with additional weight, therefore, new tyres are preferred over retreaded casings,” he complained.
The retread operation initially operated using MRF treads but has now switched to Apollo due to the fact that the company’s new tyre business operates a dedicated Apollo tyre outlet. Currently, the plant retreads both bias as well as radials.
“We are not fully functional as yet as the operation has just restarted after the lockdown. Production has also not peaked as trucks and buses have not started moving fully. The next couple of months are very critical as covid19 is expected to peak in
Bengal Retreader to Revamp Plant Machinery
Although Covid-19 cases are rising in India, the states are slowly unlocking to move the wheels of the economy, which have been stuck ever since the central government announced the country wide lockdown. The retread industry is also opening- up albeit with lower production levels as fleets have yet to move fully between states, and most of the buses are still stranded in order to follow the government’s rules on social distancing. Retreaders operating with low volumes are also considering revamping their sites by investing in new equipment to take advantage of the forced hiatus.
“We are considering replacing our three-decade old plant machinery with new equipment,” informed Deb Kumar Ghosh, Managing Director, TyreEX.
The company is planning to transform its plant into a modern site with the whole equipment being replaced. “The objective is to have a whole new set-up attuned to the changing times. The new plant would be likely be a model plant and operate as a truck centre that offers new tyres, retreading of radials and also offers services like wheel alignment and balancing all at one place,” he explained.
rising fuel prices impacting the business adversely. “The revamping of the plant along with all the required services offered at the truck centre would also add volume to the business.”
Overloading remains a major challenge in the north-East of the country as this practice continues to have a negative impact on the retreading market.
Bengal.”
The Midnapore operation covers a wide and scattered market of over 100 km. The potential in the market is there with a few pockets having a large concentration of trucks. The plant caters to a wide area spreading from the Midnapur to South Bengal, parts of Hooghly and Bankura districts.
42 Retreading Business