12 feb 2010;hindustantimes.com:Sumant Banerji:New Delhi:Tyre major Apollo Tyres wants to be among the top 10 tyre manufacturers in the world within the next five years. The company is currently placed 15th. Its turnover grew more than 100 per cent last year with the acquisition of Dutch tyre company Vredestein BV. “We now have four brands with us — Apollo, Dunlop, Vredestein and Regal — and our intention is that every segment will have a brand catering to it across the world,” said Neeraj Kanwar, managing director, Apollo Tyres Ltd. “We will need to grow both organically (expanding capacities) as well as inorganically (through acquisitions). We are preparing a blueprint that will look into how we can introduce the Apollo brand in Europe and Vredestein into India. By the end of 2010-11, we should have our strategy in place.” Apollo now has a presence in all major markets but it said emerging countries, especially the BRIC nations, will be the growth drivers. “The US is a big market but it is not our focus region. The domestic market will continue to be our mainstay,” Kanwar said. Apollo’s consolidated net sales during April-December 2009 stood at Rs 5,977.4 crore and are expected to cross Rs 8,000 crore by March 31. Its net sales in fiscal 2008-09 stood at Rs 4,070 crore. The company has invested Rs 2,000 crore in building India’s largest truck radial manufacturing factory near Chennai that will be operational by April this year. The factory will produce 6,000 truck radials per day.
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