ADDING MILEAGE: BKT’s flagship factory in Bhuj, Gujarat, is being equipped to manufacture consumer tyres

There are plenty of “non-sexy” businesses in the world that investors like Warren Buffet are famously said to love. One of them involves manufacturing off-highway tyres (OHT). Certainly, tyre maker Balkrishna Industries (BKT) has made its fortune in the space, exporting to 160 countries. It closed last financial year with revenues of roughly ₹10,615 crore, of which 70 per cent came from exports.

BKT now plans to wheel into the highly competitive consumer segment, besides strengthening its presence in India. Says Rajiv Poddar, joint managing director, BKT, “Our vision was to be a one-stop solution provider for everything off-road for our partners. Now, we are expanding that vision to include the on-road space as well.”

Poddar says commercial production for on-road tyres will begin in 2026. He says the company has earmarked an investment of ₹3,500 crore over the next three years. “Our investments are going into all our three verticals — off-road, on-road, and carbon black.” According to analysts, carbon black accounts for a good chunk of tyre manufacturing cost, so the backward linkage gives BKT good leverage.

The road ahead

The brand’s consumer tyres will be manufactured at its flagship factory in Bhuj, says Poddar. “It will be a brownfield in Bhuj. The work has started, and progressing as per our schedule.” The company has four manufacturing plants in India — two near Gurgaon, one in Aurangabad, and one in Bhuj, close to the seaport.

Given its export focus, how come BKT has no plants abroad, close to its markets? Responds Poddar, “I think we have been able to get the distribution right and make stock in adequate quantity to hit the end-user just in time.”

Poddar is the third-generation promoter in the tyre company, which was started by his grandfather Mahabirprasad, who incidentally hails from the Siyaram Silk Mills Poddar family (there was an amicable restructuring in 2013, disentangling cross-holdings). Poddar did his A levels in the UK, graduated in business administration and management, and returned in 2005 to enter the family business, where his dad, Arvind Poddar, was already in the thick of things. “I spent about 18 months in the factory, learning everything, and then moved to the head office in mid-2006. I slowly looked after various aspects of the business and made my way up. The chair was not there for me on day one,” he emphasises.

Why the focus on exports, and the shift in gaze to India now?

The company had actually started off as an auxiliary unit for Bajaj Auto in Aurangabad, says Poddar. “At that stage, the BKT brand was still emerging... and we were looking for other opportunities within the tyre space,” he adds. He says his uncle spotted the export opportunity when he noticed that Europe had just mechanised its farming. So BKT decided to enter the agri-business segment, making tyres for tractors and other farm equipment.

As the company grew in the agri space, it began looking for gaps in other OHT spaces, leading to it making tyres for construction, mining, and other industrial equipment. “While we were established in 1987, our major growth phase was in 1998,” says Poddar

BKT’s business then got organised into verticals catering to the different requirements within the off-highway space. “We slowly started completing all the baskets. Today, we can proudly say we have over 3,600 SKUs, and we can become a one-stop supplier for everything in OHT,” says Poddar. Agriculture accounts for the largest chunk of sales, at about 60 per cent.

As to why India now, and why consumer tyres, Poddar says, “As the country continues to grow, there is immense potential for us to contribute to the broader economy. We have already seen strong success in the agri-business here — we’ve secured nearly 28 per cent market share and have developed a strong understanding of the consumer landscape.”

Continues Poddar, “We are the only manufacturer of radial tyres for the mining sector in India... all-steel radials, and considered to be the highest level of innovation. We are actively engaging with mines across India.” He says the company’s strong performance in the agri-business segment in India gave it the confidence to steer into the B2C segment.

Building the brand

Poddar says BKT has set an ambitious revenue target of ₹23,000 crore by 2030, including about ₹5,000 crore from the on-road segment, and is channelling fresh investment into manufacturing. “We are installing additional machinery and advanced systems to boost our capacity,” he says. For the consumer segment, he points to the significant investments being made to build the brand value of BKT, through sports sponsorships.

“At the moment, we have used sports as a strategic platform to strengthen BKT’s brand value. We have collaborated with select regional sports across countries and regions. In Europe, football is big, and we are sponsoring three of the leagues. In the US, we are doing Monster Jam; and in Canada we are doing Curling. Down south, in Australia, we are doing Big Bash; and in the recently concluded India tour of Australia, we were the naming rights partner for Cricket Australia. And in India, we are spending a lot of our budget on the Indian T20 league,” he says.

Poddar also says a professional team is in place for the new vertical. “We have a CEO in place, in Satish Sharma. He is building the team slowly and steadily, bringing all the experts, whether it is field engineering, testing, tyre development, or sales and field staff.”

According to a bl research bureau analyst, “Achieving revenue of ₹23,000 crore by FY30 implies a CAGR of 17 per cent. Excluding the low-base effect in FY20, the company’s revenue clocked CAGR of 12 per cent in the past six years (FY19-25). With entrenched players in the on-road tyres space, and given the industry’s cyclical nature, it appears to be an uphill road to the FY30 targets. The company’s execution would be an interesting case to track.”

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Published on November 24, 2025