Indo-Italian retread JV Marangoni GRP Private Limited (MGPL) is continuing to increase its footprint in India.
New Marangoni Dealer in Chennai
The JV active in the commercial vehicle retreading sector in India, has entered Tamil Nadu with a new full-service RINGTREAD Franchisee at Chennai, India, Xtramiles – a new entrant into the tyre retreading business.
Giuseppe Marangoni, Vice President, Group Marangoni and Harsh Gandhi, Joint Managing Director, GRP Ltd inaugurated the franchisee’s new plant in Maduravoyal, Chennai.
Xtramiles – miles after miles – is a partnership firm of five young professionals turned entrepreneurs, who believe that tyre retreading is not a workshop kind of work and should be approached with industrial standards and with a technology-driven production process. After long industrial trips, they understood that fleet operators are not satisfied with the existing solutions delivered by local players. Due to this, Xtramiles decided to start a world class tyre retreading unit in co-operation with Marangoni GRP, who have domain expertise, an innovative technology driven process and a unique product – RINGTREAD.
Speaking on the occasion, Giuseppe Marangoni said, “For India’s quality conscious fleets, we believe RINGTREAD is the perfect product to bring their operational costs down. At Marangoni, we believe that India offers great potential for growth, and we continue to invest in the market”.
Harsh Gandhi, Director, MGPL added, “Post setting up Franchisees in Karnataka, Haryana and Kerala over the last 12 months, we wanted to come to a metro city with a large population, quality conscious customers and discerning fleets. With the establishment of Xtramiles at Chennai, we have now entered the league of large trucking centres.”
Gandhi further explained, “In Xtramiles, we have a bunch of young entrepreneurs with diverse backgrounds in IT, banking sales and transportation who believe that they can offer a potent ‘product + service’ offering to chart out a different course from the usual. India’s retreading industry needs new ideas to move forward, and MGPL expects to be at the forefront of such initiatives.”
A typical MGPL site requires around 4,500 square feet area and an investment in equipment and accessories to the tune of INR 8 million including a unique Ringtread Building Machine. All equipment in the plant is attached to a system of monorails, resulting in elimination of contamination during the retreading process and reduced fatigue of workers – all leading to a better quality retreaded tyre. A plant, running, around the clock can produce about 1,050 commercial vehicle tyres a month. Xtramiles’ territory covers Chennai and an area around it in the radius of 50 km.
MGPL says its future partners and franchisees will be people who believe in the ‘mission’ to organise the retreading process in India and partner with fleets instead of just ‘sell’ to them. Hemant Kaul, CEO, MGPL said, “In Xtramiles, we found young entrepreneurs who have this and more – the foresight to bring IT solutions to enhance the retreading experience of fleets, something that will be introduced in the near future.
A study carried out by MGPL study revealed that Chennai has market potential in the vicinity of 6,000-8,000 retreaded truck tyres per month. However, since the retreading sector in India is comprised of a large number of hole-in-the-wall type plants dotting its transport centres, the current potential could be even higher. The company believes that the potential can be enhanced significantly if fleets get a product that gives life comparable to new tyres and doesn’t fail during service. RINGTREAD is such a globally proven product.
According to MGPL, another four sites are in the pipeline, and the company expects them to go on-stream by June-July 2019. Speaking on the occasion, Kaul further said “MGPL now has four franchisees operating in the country with four more in various stages of commissioning in Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Hyderabad and Maharashtra. With these, MGPL’s footprint will be established in eight cities in seven states. Our pace of new franchisee appointments is picking up, and we expect to reach double figures soon.” The company plans to cover all major states of India by the end of fiscal 2019, bringing the franchisee count to between 12-15.
