India Sees An Increase Of 57 Percent In Truck And Bus Radial Tyre Imports: ATMA

The first two months of the ongoing financial year didn’t bring any cheers for Indian tyre manufacturers as the import of Truck and Bus Radials (TBRs) rose to 57%. A report from the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) reveals that the import of TBR during April and May swelled to 280,000 units against the import of 180,000 units last year in the same period. Here, the rising numbers are quite a worry for the Indian tyre makers as they have recently invested Rs 25,000 crore for capacity creation.

The major chunk of TBR tyre import to India is from the adjoining country China. Domestic tyre makers blame Chinese tyre manufacturers for dumping their products in the Indian tyre market, which affects them adversely. However, ATMA asserts the fact that many a time the per-unit cost of the Chinese tyres is lower than the price of the raw material available in India.

May 2016 saw the tyre import of 150,000 TBR units, which is nearly 40% of the replacement demand for TBRs in a single month. The last financial year saw 90% import of Chinese TBR products compared to 70% in the previous year and 40% in the year prior to that.

Good to Know: Chinese per-unit radial for trucks or buses costs around $150 (Rs 10,000), whereas Indian bus or truck tyre costs Rs 15,000. Clearly, the China-made tyres cost 30% less compared to Indian ones.

Author: Ankit verma

My need for speed began at a very early age and I realised this as soon as I got my first bicycle at the age of 8. When all the other kids would break downhill I would pedal harder just to go faster and enjoy the thrill. Adding to my interest for speed, I grew engrossed in the working mechanics of two wheelers thanks to my father as he is a hydraulic mechanic and would take me along with him on his repair sessions. Eventually I became familiar with the tools and basic technical concepts of two wheelers.Super sport and sport tourers are more of my liking and the sparks to these flames were ignited the first time I experienced the maddening power of a Yamaha YZF R1. I was just 14 years old at the time and got to ride as a pillion with an older acquaintance. This one short ride influenced my every decision in terms of the bikes I want to own. As of today I’m 26 years old and a proud owner of a Yamaha Fz15 version 2.0 and a Kawasaki Ninja 650 2014 model having clocked a decent 30k Kms only while touring, waiting to clock 1000s more as riding makes me feel whole again after enduring the dismal routines of life. Read more