Apollo Tyres lays foundation stone for Rs 100 cr OTR plant

New Delhi, Feb 25 (UNI) Leading tyre maker, Apollo Tyres Ltd's Chairman and Managing Director Onkar S Kanwar today laid the foundation stone for its Rs 100 crore Off-The-Road (OTR) tyre production facility in Limda, Gujarat.

This marks the beginning of Apollo Tyres' entry into the OTR segment, with an initial capacity of 10 tonnes a day in the first phase of the project, to be scaled to 60 tonnes a day over the next three years, said a statement.

''Buoyancy in the mining and construction industries globally, has led to a demand-supply gap in OTR tyres, including in India.

We will begin production with the conventional cross-ply tyres which are used in India. Over the next two-odd years, we will manufacture radial OTR tyres, which are currently not produced in India,'' Mr Kanwar said.

Various earthmover equipment manufacturers have shown eagerness to get into agreements with us that allow them exclusive access to our OTR production, he added.

The first set of tyres is expected to roll out in the next 15 months. The sizes produced here will begin from 25 inches (diameter) and go up to as much as 57 inches.

The company added that additional investments will be made for radial production. Radial OTR tyres are currently not manufactured in India and are imported primarily in the size range of 50 inches and higher, for vehicles used in the mining sector.

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