Indian Tyre Industry is fast integrating with global supply chains helped by the globally aligned regulatory environment in the country that has led to an increase in the addressable market for Indian manufactured tyres. Tyre exports from India went up by 50% last year and we are likely to close the ongoing financial year with nearly 15% growth, said Mr Satish Sharma, Chairman Automotive Tyre Manufacturers’ Association (ATMA) at ATMA Partners’ Summit 2023 held recently.

What has helped the industry maintain growth momentum both domestically and in the export markets is the consistent support by raw material partners who have stood steadfastly with the industry at a time when supply chains got disrupted earlier due to Covid and then due to geo-political concerns, he stated while addressing nearly 350 senior representatives from Tyre Industry’s raw material manufacturers including Carbon Black, Reinforcement materials, Rubber chemicals and Synthetic Rubbers etc. who participated in the 7th edition of ATMA Partners’ Summit.

The automotive world continues to evolve and continues to put more demands on the Tyre Industry and thereby its supply chain partners. India has witnessed compression of the emission norms lifecycle by going straight from BS4 to BS6. Auto OEMs are expecting the tyres to contribute in a very significant way to meet the exceeding demands now being put on them. There are enough regulations happening on the noise front, rolling resistance etc and it is imperative for the tyre industry’s supply chain partners to enable the industry to meet these requirements, added Mr Sharma.

In his welcome address, Mr Roopesh R, Convener ATMA Supply Chain & Resources Group said notwithstanding challenges to the global economy, India’s growth story remains intact. Tyre Industry is fully in sync with the capital expenditure by the government and large investments have been lined up in both green field and brown field expansion. Collaboration between the industry and supply chain partners will hold the key for the benefits of growth accruing to all the stakeholders.

The inaugural session had three keynote addresses one each on Global & Indian Economy (Ms Aditi Nayar, Chief Economist ICRA Ltd), Sustainability (Ms Namrata Rana, Director Strategy, Futurescape) and Technology enablement in Supply Chain (Mr Akash Srivastava, Partner Deloitte India).

Besides inaugural, ATMA Partners’ Summit 2023 had five curated sessions over two days each devoted to a particular raw material. The session on Reinforcement materials was chaired by Mr Pravin Tripathi, Group Head –Corporate Procurement, Apollo Tyres Ltd. and Mr Ravin Kurian, Senior General Manager -Product Development, MRF Ltd.

Mr Ajay Chaube, Vice President & Head – Strategy and Quality Management, SRF Limited and Mr Manojit Saha, Director-Marketing & Sales, Hyosung made the industry presentations on Textile related Reinforcement materials while Mr Srikanth Chakravarthy, VP Global Strategy & MD (India) Bekaert and Mr Sunil Chordia, Chairman & MD, Rajratan Global Wire Limited presented the industry overview on Steel related reinforcement materials.

Mr Suresh Sodani, MD & CEO, Century Enka, Mr Davide Bolgiaghi, Head – R&D, Innovation & Sustainability (Tyre), Indorama Ventures Mobility Group, Mr Anurag Pandey, Executive Incharge – Global Wires, Tata Steel and Mr Gene Park, Head of Sales, South East Asia HQ, Kiswire joined the industry presenters for engaging panel discussions one each on Textile and Steel.

A Special Session witnessed Tyre Industry Perspective by ATMA Chairman Mr Satish Sharma and a presentation on INROAD NR Project by Mr Mohan Kurian, Chairman ATMA NR Project & Vice President- Materials, MRF Ltd.

Mr Ravi Khanna , Head Procurement, Bridgestone India Pvt. Ltd. and Mr Roopesh R, Convener ATMA SCR Group & Sr. Vice President – Procurement CEAT Ltd moderated an interesting session on Vendor Partnerships participated by Mr SKP Amarnath, Group Head – R&D Asia, Apollo Tyres Ltd., Mr Arun Singaram, Head Purchasing & SCM, Continental India Pvt. Ltd, Mr V K Misra, Chairman, ITTAC & Technical Director, JK Tyre & Industries Ltd. and Mr Hemaraj K Raghavan, Head of Purchase-AIM, Michelin India.

The session on Carbon Black that accounts for 25% of Tyre Industry raw materials by weight was chaired by Mr Ashish Pandey, Vice President (Materials), JK Tyre & Industries Ltd. and Mr Tejpal Garhwal, Head-Procurement Operations, Goodyear India Ltd. Mr Shashank Awasthi, Executive President & Sales Head Asia, Birla Carbon made an insightful industry presentation on Carbon Black followed by a panel discussion which besides Mr Awasthi was participated by Mr Kaushik Roy, Managing Director, PCBL Limited, Mr T M Chen, Director & President, Continental Carbon, Mr Monojit Mukherjee, Business Head, Himadri Speciality Chemical Ltd. and Mr Saiprasad Jadhav CEO, Epsilon Carbon Pvt. Ltd.

The session on High Performance Materials had two comprehensive industry presentations by Mr Rishabh Holani, Director – Business Development, Finorchem Ltd. (on Chemicals) and Mr Darshak Shah, Managing Director, Madhu Silica (on Silica). Later the duo were joined by Mr Narain Holani MD, Finorchem Ltd., Mr Abhishek Agarwal, Executive Director, TWC Group and Mr V. S. Anand Deputy MD, NOCIL Ltd. for a panel discussion on the subject moderated by Mr S Ramakrishnan Head Raw Material Development & External Research, Apollo Tyres Ltd. and Mr Mohan Kurian, Vice President- Materials, MRF Ltd.

The last session of the Summit pertained to Synthetic Rubbers that commenced with an industry presentation by Mr Unmesh Nayak, Sr. VP, Reliance Industries. After the presentation, Mr Nayak joined industry veterans Mr Bhavesh Pande, Managing Director, Indian Synthetic Rubber Private Limited (ISRPL) and Mr Dongil Kim, General Manager, Kumho Petrochemical for a panel discussion that evoked keen interest by the audience with lots of pointed questions posed by the floor. The session was chaired by Mr Roopesh R and Mr V K Misra.

The Summit concluded with a Summing up by Mr Pravin Tripathi wherein individual groupings of different raw materials were celebrated on the dais in a gesture of

ATMA Partners’ Summit (APS) has emerged as the most significant and cherished platform for the Indian Tyre Industry and its Raw Material partners. APS was conceptualised in 2013 and since then the event has seen an overwhelming participation of stakeholders in the previous six summits. The deliberations have helped Raw Material partners understand the challenges and growth outlook of Tyre Industry while equally giving them an opportunity to share their future plans with the ultimate objective of developing a synergistic ecosystem.

Tyre industry is poised for significant growth, given the priority accorded by the Government to infrastructure and road development. Innovation in raw materials and raw material mix is important to develop new age tyres, to meet the rising expectations of the Auto sector.

A dedicated engagement between thought leaders from both Tyre Industry and Raw Material manufacturers is a must under the present circumstances and ATMA Partners’ Summit provides an apt platform for the same.