India-based tire manufacturer Balkrishna Industries Ltd. (BKT) is budgeting more than $200 million to upgrade and expand capacity for tires and carbon black at plants in India.
The projects in India are $72.5 million to replace a 30-year-old farm industrial tire plant in Waluj, Maharashtra, with an expanded factory on a 22-acre greenfield site nearby. The plant's capacity will remain at roughly 30,000 metric tons per year but at a facility with its own co-generation power plant and warehousing.
The other investment is $72.5 million to add 5,000 metric tons of annual production capacity at the 5-year-old Bhuj, Gujarat, factory, in particular for larger sizes, along with a rubber mixing plant and additional warehousing. The investment includes the addition of building equipment for the larger-sized tires.
A third investment, of $61.6 million, is designated for the construction of a carbon black plant on the grounds of the Bhuj factory complex in northwest India. The new plant, rated at 140,000 metric tons a year at full capacity, will supply the new U.S. plant in addition to BKT's Indian facilities. The plant will start producing in March 2019 at an annualized rate of 60,000 tons and ramp up to full capacity by March 2021.