By Abhishek Roy, IANS
New Delhi : Ailing tyre major Dunlop India Ltd, as part of a revival initiative, is to start manufacturing industrial products and aircraft tyres at its two factories in West Bengal and Tamil Nadu from September.
"We will start manufacturing industrial products like conveyor belts and other products used in steel and other industrial plants and these will be part of the revival programme," Dhrubojyoti Nandi, vice-president of Dunlop India, told IANS.
"The production will start in September, when both the factories in Sahagunj (West Bengal) and Ambattur (Tamil Nadu) resume full operation."
Both the factories have stopped operation since May as the company is carrying out renovation.
The plants of the one-time tyre major were opened in 2005 after a gap of five years, when Pawan Kumar Ruia of the Kolkata-based Ruia Group bought the company from Dubai-based Jumbo Group of the Chhabria family.
At the time of the takeover, Ruia said he would spend Rs.1.5 billion ($37 million) to revive the company.
"Both the plants are undergoing refurbishment and we are also changing the machinery. The plants will start operating again in September in a full-fledged way," said Nandi.
The Sahagunj plant at the peak of its capacity would produce 130 tonnes of tyres per day for light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and high commercial vehicles (HCVs) as well as for the off-the-road (OTR) vehicles like tractors, he said.
Nandi also said that Dunlop would also start the production of aircraft tyres soon to boost its sale. The company is currently in talks with a European tyre major to produce aero tyres.
"There is an aviation boom in the country and we are focussed to take advantage. We are the only licensed aero tyres manufacturer in the country and this will obviously boost our sales," Nandi said.
Shahgunj is the only tyre plant in India capable of producing aero tyres.
Apart from Dunlop, Ruia had also taken over two other tyre companies of Jumbo Group – Falcon Tyres and India Tyres.