JK Tyre to invest Rs 100 cr in Mysuru R&D facility

In a bid to cater to global auto majors with better R&D, leading Indian tyre manufacturer JK Tyre & Industries is planning to invest Rs 100 core on an R&D facility in Mysuru.

In an interaction with DH, JK Tyre & Industries Chairman and Managing Director Raghupati Singhania said, “Currently, JK Tyre undertakes R&D at several locations, and now, we have combined all these R&D efforts under one roof, and are setting up a world-class research centre at Mysuru.”

“This facility will house the most modern and advanced equipment, manned by highly experienced engineers and scientists with deep insight into material resource, designs, aesthetics and structures. In the next two months, the facility will go live,” Singhania said.

“Disintegrated approach is not a good idea, and we decided on an integrated R&D hub under one roof. So, we decided to shift all R&D facilities from different locations to Mysuru. We will start with 200 employees, and will grow to 400 in few years. We have invested Rs 100 crore on a one lakh sq feet facility,” Singhania added.

10 millionth truck tyre
JK Tyre and Industries has become the first Indian tyre company to produce 10 million truck/bus radial tyres.

With one of India’s largest tyre capacities at 3.5 million truck/bus radials per annum, JK Tyre is the undisputed leader in this vertical.

JK Tyre took over the state-owned Vikrant plant and turned it around into a state-of-the-art plant with an investment of over Rs 1,200 crore. Today, JK Tyre provides direct and indirect employment to over 13,000 people.

“Starting in 1977, when we set up our first tyre plant in Rajasthan with an annual capacity of five lakh tyres, we have come a long way. Today, JK Tyre has grown multifold by setting up green field plants, expansion of its existing capacities and acquisitions, including that of Vikrant Tyre in Karnataka, as also a tyre company in Mexico, apart from the latest acquisition of three plants of Cavendish Industries in Uttarakhand,” Singhania said.
 
JK Tyre has 12 plants globally, with a future-ready capacity of 350 lakh tyres per annum. Singhania also informed that the company has completed the second phase of construction of its modern and pure radial plant at Chennai, with a total investment of Rs 1,430 crore. The expansion was completed in the last quarter, and makes truck and car radials. It has a production capacity of 12 lakh TBRs and 45 lakh PCRs. The plant has a blueprint of scaling up to two million truck radials, and 10 million PCRs. Also, the capacity of the Mexico plants is under expansion, which is expected to go up to 5 million tyres, from the existing 3.5 million units per year.