Apollo chief says company focusing more on R&D

London – Apollo Tyres Ltd is investing in research and development as a “key pillar” for growth over the next few years, the Indian tire maker’s chief business officer Sunam Sarkar has highlighted .

In an email interview with ERJ, Sarkar, who has recently been “re-designated” to run Apollo’s Singapore office said: “We have recently identified R&D to be one of the key pillars for the next phase of growth for the organisation. This has led to the setting-up of separate R&D centres for passenger vehicle tires in The Netherlands, and for commercial vehicle tires in Chennai, India.”

Without elaborating further, Sarkar said that Apollo had substantially increased its spending on R&D. He added that several research projects were also underway in collaboration with several raw material suppliers and universities.

With regard to Apollo’s new Singapore base, Sarkar said: “Setting up a base in Singapore, which in a way, is a hub for us in terms of raw materials, will help the organisation with strategic sourcing, and at the same time, facilitate our entry into this new geography.”

Further on growth strategy , the chief business officer said: “We are currently feeding the markets in the ASEAN and Middle East region with exports out of India. Once we have created enough demand for our products, we might consider [building] a plant.”

“We already have a sales and distribution hub in Dubai, to serve the Middle East market, which is being fed from our manufacturing units in India,” added Sarkar while confirming that the company, despite “good demand”, was not looking at any partnerships in that region.

In light of Apollo’s broken partnership with Cooper in China, Sarkar said the company was not looking at partnerships in Asia either.

Asked to comment on rubber price trends, Sarkar said that raw material prices, including for natural rubber, had been stable from the past few months and “we expect it to remain at the current levels in the near future.”