Balkrishna Industries Ltd. has announced a capital investment plan valued at $257 million that will increase capacity for OTR tires and carbon black in India.
The program has three components:
BKT will invest $108 million to boost capacity for 51- and 57-inch OTR tires at the factory in Bhuj, Gujarat, along with debottlenecking and the installation of additional ancillary equipment. Overall capacity will be expanded by 50,000 metric tons per year.
BKT will spend $60 million on modernization, automation and technology upgrades at Bhuj and another tire plant in Bhiwadi, Rajasthan.
BKT will spend $88 million to expand capacity at a carbon black plant located at the Bhuj factory complex. Capacity will increase to 200,000 tons per year. The plant started up in 2019. The company did not release a completion date for this project.
In addition, BKT is nearing completion on a new farm/industrial/OTR tire plant being built in Waluj, Maharashtra, which will replace a 30-year-old facility nearby. BKT said it expects the plant to be operational by the first quarter of 2022 with a start-up capacity of 30,000 metric tons per year.
Finally, BKT’s board of directors confirmed that the company’s proposed tire factory to be built in the United States, which was first proposed in 2018, has been shelved due to “business uncertainties.”