BKT readjusts expansion project at Indian tire plant

Mumbai, India – Off-highway tire maker Balkrishna Tyres Ltd (BKT) has readjusted its plans to expand its 32-year-old manufacturing plant in Waluj, Maharashtra State.

As initially announced in 2020, the project involved the construction of a new manufacturing facility at the site to replace the existing plant.

The plan was later changed to cover both a greenfield facility, while the existing brownfield factory would be modernised.

In its latest second quarter presentation in November 2022, however, BKT said its board has now decided to “revert to its earlier decision of ceasing operations at the old plant.”

As a result, the earlier approved capex of INR3.5 billion (€40 million) for the modernisation of the old plant will now be utilised at the new site to increase economies-of-scale

BKT said the new project will be executed “as a brownfield project” with completion set for the first half of its financial year 2024, starting April 2023.

Once completed, the site will have an overall capacity of 55 kilotonnes per annum.

In addition to this announcement, BKT said it had commissioned a 50ktpa expansion of radial agricultural tire production at its Bhuj site, in eastern India.

BKT expects complete ramp-up in production to be achieved in the second half of financial year 2023, ending 30 March.

According to ERJ's 2021 Global Tire Report, BKT manufacturers 159,000 tonnes a year of agricultural, earthmover and industrial tires at the Bhuj plant.

BKT added that it had completed an INR4.5 billion modernisation, automation and technology upgrade projects at its factories in Bhiwadi, Chopanki and Bhuj.