MRF Tyre Plant to become operational in Jan/Feb 2012

MRF on Friday said it was looking at acquiring tyre plants overseas besides engaging in rubber plantations in countries such as Cambodia, Thailand and Vietnam to meet the growing demand for raw material and its rising costs. The tyre-maker is also setting up a new plant in Tamil Nadu with an investment of Rs.800 crore that would become operational by early next year.

“We may acquire plants outside India. We have not come across anything as yet…we will preferably look at acquisitions abroad rather than taking the usual organic growth path,” MRF Executive Vice-President (Marketing) Koshy K. Varghese told journalists here after launching a new series of high performance, tubeless radial tyres, MRF Z.L.O. MRF is also looking at acquiring or managing rubber estates abroad, particularly in countries such as Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam, to cope with the surging input cost. “We may look at rubber estates overseas to bring down cost. Today, most of the rubber that we procure is either bought domestically or we import rubber…but if we could manage rubber estates abroad, we can take advantage,” Mr. Varghese pointed out. On the MRF's Rs.800-crore new manufacturing plant at Tiruchi in Tamil Nadu, Mr. Varghese said it was expected to start operations in January-February, 2012. On the new series of high performance, tubeless radial tyres, MRF Z.L.O., Mr. Varghese said it could be fitted on more than 35 models of domestic and imported cars running on Indian roads. The new tyres were made of advanced polymer compound with stable ring construction to enhance customers' confidence in high speed driving, he added.