Goodyear India is set to enter the Rs 1,000-crore (Rs 10 billion) plus tyre companies club on the back of new retail forays and healthy sales, which are expected to grow by 17 to 18 per cent this fiscal.
The company, which is doubling its capacity at its Aurangabad plant at an investment of Rs 80 crore (Rs 800 million), is embarking on a new retail initiative that will see it set up 300 'shop-in-shop' multi-brand outlets across the country.
"We had sales of about Rs 900 crore (Rs 9 billion) in 2005-06 and hope to cross the Rs 1,000-crore (Rs 10 billion) figure this fiscal," Goodyear India and South Asia Chairman and Managing Director Antonio Capellini told PTI in New Delhi.
He said apart from passenger car tyres, commercial vehicles tyres were a major contributor to the revenue as they had a higher weightage in terms of value.
Other tyre companies commanding Rs 1,000-crore (Rs 10 billion) sales include MRF, Apollo, JK Industries and Ceat, though almost all of them are way ahead of the four-figure threshold number.
He said the company expected to grow faster than the industry at a growth of about 17 to 18 per cent. "The industry is expected to grow at around 15 per cent and we would grow 2-3 per cent higher than that," he said.
Even as the automobile industry expands, tyre companies in India are facing high costs of inputs as prices of rubber and other petro-based ingredients have increased many times.
Many of them, including J K Industries and Apollo, have already announced price hikes as margins have come under severe pressure.
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