BKTINTERVIEWS

Mr. Ashok Chhajer , GM-OE Sales, BKT Tires

Any New Launches in Excon 2019?

We have introduced India’s largest & widest tires i.e. two new products, 33.00 R51 All Steel Radial Tire & 45/65 All Steel Radial Tire. One is for 150 tons dump trucks and other tire is for wheel loading shovel.

Brief our readers with full range of products available with BKT.

We have a wide range of products which involves a SKU of more than   2700 SKU (stock keeping units) which is very difficult to describe full range of products. Our range starts from 5 inches rim diameter to 54 inches rim diameter as far as sizes are concerned. Talking about segment / category, we have the tires for Material Handling Equipments, Agricultural Equipment, Construction Equipment, Mining Equipment, Undergrounding Equipments, and Terminal Ports Material Handling Equipment’s etc. So we have a very wide range and segment. When we talk Classification wise, we have Bias tires, Radial tires, All Steel Radial tires, Solid tires, so we have combination of huge and wide range.  Just to update all very recently JCB’s tractor which touch a speed of 210 km/hr have used BKT tires which were specially designed for this purpose.  So we have that specialty where we can provide our customer with tailor made tires as per their needs and wants.

 As we are in last month of 2019. How was this year for BKT tires?

As already we are in the last month and there has been a downfall in Equipment manufacturing  sector  and  this is not the Indian scenario , this downfall have been recorded across the globe but not only in construction industry but in all industry.  So BKT being a part of global market have recorded a negative growth in the year 2019 this is because of the market scenario and sentiments and I believe this is temporary.

Is government policy one of the reasons for this market scenario?

we are not directly connected to the government policy as we provide one of the components to the equipments. Yes, which is the important part of equipment hence we are also more dependent upon infrastructure sector growth .Yesterday itself our Hon’ble Minister Road Transport & Highways   Shri. Nitin Gadkari has made a lot of announcements in infrastructure sector and especially in road segment.  We are very hopeful that once all these projects are on floor, there will be a boom in Construction Equipment industry and automatically demand for tires and other components will rise.  As per Mr. Gadkari finance is not the issue, the issue is land acquisition which will be solved soon.

What is the BKT strategy to overcome this market scenario?

All our plans are ready and we are already working on it. So in accordance with our targets we were performing well and our production planning remained the same.

What are your long term plans?

We are very clear on our long term plan that we want to gain 10% of the market share of the total Off Highway market application. We are happy to share with you that we have cover 5 to 6 % of the market size. We are happy to see that every year the market size is also growing.

What is the role of BKT towards Environment?

BKT have been always ahead when we talk about social responsibility. BKT had been encouraging sports, as our presence is worldwide.  We have sponsored a football team from Europe. Even in the past we have sponsored a cricket team from Australia for BBL, Kabaddi team for India, TNPL from Tamil Nadu and sponsored many other sports globally. We are strongly associated for environment with DISHA FOUNDATION. There is one activity going on right now, where everyone can be a part of this noble cause. Just one has to participate in that event and move the tire up and down and we will plant one tree in their name.

How is the response of Excon 2019,is it as per your expectation?

EXCON is a very vibrant platform. We have been participating since a decade. It give us opportunity to meet all our new and old customers and analyze their present and future requirement also serves as great platform for launching new products. The impact on branding is immense. It not only reinforces our brand but also takes i to next level.