A past master at pulling off marketing surprises at industry trade shows, global off-highway tyre major, BKT, is not about to reveal much of its plans for Excon in Bangalore in advance, save for the fact that the main focus of the company this time around would be on showcasing products catering to the mining sector. With mining slated to be a core area of business for the company going forward, there is now a growing emphasis among the minders of the Indian multinational on producing mining tyres which match international standards. “Excon is a very important event for the construction and allied sectors. Everyone in the industry is eagerly waiting to showcase their product developments. BKT occupies a central and prime booth at the exhibition which attracts distributors and end users and we are looking forward to being there,” Rajiv Poddar, Joint Managing Director, BKT said at a press meet in Mumbai held in advance of the CII organised big ticket exhibition to reveal his company’s recent accomplishments.
BKT is incidentally on the verge of an important milestone crossing – a billion dollars in turnover this year, with India contributing 20 per cent and 80 per cent accruing from exports. Now with a market share of about 6 per cent in the global off-highway tyres segment, the company has got its eyes set on expanding its share to up to 10 per cent over the next 4-5 years.
Busy Times
Having gained a foothold in the agriculture and construction industry, BKT has indicated plans to expand its mining portfolio with the Giant and Super Giant range tyres. For the record the company recently introduced tyres in the 47-51 and 57-inch category and will be shortly launching 63-inch tyres for the Indian market. The company has tied up with top 3 OEMs and will be launching its new products for the mining sector. Having tested mining equipment tyres BKT has plans to go ahead with its solid tyres offering soon.
It is instructive to know that in 2019 BKT had a market growth of 8 per cent; which leapfrogged to 26 per cent in 2020 and 25 per cent the following year. Despite the debilitating impact of the pandemic on business, BKT has been able to stay ahead of the competition by investing a lot of time and effort.
Simply put, a strategywas adopted which helped the company satisfy its most demanding customers and to deliver products as per requirements. The end result has been that the company has been able to achieve good numbers – this is also in part due to a rise in construction activities across India and the market returning to near normalcy.
Over the last two years BKT has invested heavily on creating new factory infrastructure at Bhuj in areas such as tyres, carbon black, and by installing a self-sustaining power generation plant. It also upgraded existing infrastructure by completing a Rs 450 crore capacity expansion last year.
This has contributed to adding 50,000 metric tons of tyre manufacturing capacity.
With a resilient business model in his possession, Rajiv Poddar is confident of withstanding short term challenges and expects to emerge stronger. Speaking of the ongoing market trends, he says, “We see a strong demand for our products across geographies despite macro challenges in the form of raw material and logistics costs along with the availability of containers.”
– By SHRIKANT RAO in Mumbai