Page 70 - RB-98-2021-3

INDIA
KS Trading Looks to Benefit from Potential Spike in Sales of Smaller Retread Sizes
Tyre Technocrats: India’s Most Diversified OTR Retreader
Rising fuel prices and prevailing uncertainty in the domestic market due to the Covid-19 pandemic, is expected to give impetus to the sale of retreads in segments like light truck/bus tyres and even auto and passenger car tyres. Fuel and tyres consume a major part of the income of lighter commercial and personal vehicles owners. Interestingly, retreaders in Delhi are gearing-up to meet their
Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha etc.” he said. “We have a tyre shop in the North-Eastern state of Assam which customers are regularly visiting from the remote hilly areas in order to buy these tyres.”
Currently, the market is also facing a shortage of new tyres. Availability in the major towns and cities is possible but their reach is limited in the price sensitive remote markets, where customers are willing to buy retreaded casings instead of new tyres.
“In remote areas, customers are not flush with funds and not in a position to spend INR 15,000 to 20,000 on tyre. They tend to prefer cheaper casings, which costs them about INR 3,000- 4,000 to run 7,000 – 8,000 km as most of them are engaged in transporting people and goods in the remote villages,” explained Saqib. “These tyres are not running at high speeds and do not cover long distances,” he added.
Indian OTR tyre retreader Tyre Technocrats (India) Private Limited (TTIPL) has expanded its capabilities in the last five years. Headquartered at Udaipur in the West Indian State of Rajasthan, TTIPL has one of the most diversified and state-of- the-art OTR and TBR retreading operations in the countr y.
The retreading major retreads OTR tyres by the conventional system but expanded into precure OTR retreading a few years ago. “We installed an Akar
is manufactured to cater to the TBR segment,” said Talreja.
Tyre Technocrats claims to control almost 60% share within the mining tyre sector in India and is looking to expand further once mining activity starts in the coal blocks auctioned by the Indian government recently. TTPIL is a diversified mining firm with annual turnover of about INR 200 crore. Around a quarter of this is derived from the company’s activities in the retreading sector.
Saqib Qureshi of K S Trading and Tyres
demand, and plants are operating round the clock to cater to the demand from these market segments.
Currently, fuel prices are at all time high, and fleet owners with smaller commercial vehicles are under increasing pressure to prune expenses to remain operational in the market.
“We are specialising in retreading all kinds of smaller tyre sizes below 1000/20,” stated Saqib Qureshi of K S Trading who joined the family business couple of years ago. His family owns four sites in different transport hubs in Delhi.
The A-grade casings are being sourced from cities like Chandigarh and Ahmedabad and are brought back to Delhi for retreading. The four plants together retread about 6,000 tyres each month which are sold to various parts of the country. According to Saqib, there are traditional markets where these tyres are very popular and provide a ready market. “We are selling these tyres in the remote areas of North-Eastern states, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal
There is huge market for such tyres in the country, and the retreaders of low-priced small tyres are even planning to tap price sensitive markets in neighbouring countries. “Countries like Nepal and Bhutan are dependent on lots of supplies from India,” said Saqib. “The traders from these markets regularly visit the Indian side to procure all kinds of products including tyres. We are looking for customers from these countries who are looking to purchase low-priced tyres.”
Makina precure OTR line in 2018,” informed Sahil Talreja, Director, TTPIL. The company already had separate line from the Turkish firm installed for TBR tyres.
Additionally, the Udaipur site is installed with an Italmatic CNC line for buffing, skiving, grooving etc for retreading 1000/20 to the biggest 63 inch off-roaders. The Italmatic line retreads 57 inch off-roaders for the mining major Vedanta Ltd. TTPIL has also been producing about 50 tons of tread rubber per month in-house for its own consumption since 1990. “We are into serving all kinds of mining firms engaged coal, iron ore, cement plants etc., and it has not been possible to rely on others for tread rubber. Therefore, we have built in- house tread rubber capacities from the beginning itself.” The plant produces both hot and precure rubber, although the majority (70-80% depending on requirements) is for the hot process. “In the OTR segment, the best results come from hot rubber, whereas precure rubber
Foray into OTR patch production
TTIPL started manufacturing tyre and tube repair patches for both bias and radial ply tyres and tubes from early last year. “We expanded into patch manufacturing in early 2020 as our consumption surged and supplies were not consistent from patch makers,” informed Talreja.
“TTIPL OTR patches are designed to ensure that OTR tyres are always in operational condition,” he added. “The conditions most drivers face when driving off-road can range from very easy to very treacherous. The first condition that always changing is the terrain, and when the roads are testing, tyres are subjected to harsh conditions.”
Focus on tyre management solutions
The company also offers OTR Tyre Management solutions that have revolutionised OTR tyre care in the retreading industr y.
70 Retreading Business