Michelin India has confirmed plans of setting up a manufacturing facility here. Company sources say that the locations has not been finalised as the company is in talks with various state governments including the Tamil Nadu state government. Michelin is looking at acquiring 290 acres of land for the greenfield facility. Initially only a part of the facility will be used for manufacturing radial tyres for trucks and earth-movers. The scale of operations is not known yet.
Michelin India currently imports these tyres from Thailand & China. Certain high end tyres are imported from Europe and South America. Radial truck tyres offer better fuel efficiency and last longer than normal nylon tyres. This offers substantial economic benefits. This fact is now seeping through to the grassroots of Indian road transport industry, creating greater acceptance and increasing demand for the more expensive radial tyres. As a result radialisation in the truck tyres segment has shot from 1% in 2005 to over 8% in 2008 and is expected to continue unabated in the coming years.
Source – ACI
