Balkrishna Industries (BKT) is the market leader with the augmenting sales and volume growth in the mining tyres segment. The segment shows robust growth potential, given the company's new product launches and network expansions through tie-ups with mining service providers.

The company's Board of Directors have firmed a capital expenditure (capex plan) of up to $100 million for India for setting up a greenfield tyre plant in the US, through a wholly-owned subsidiary to be set up. The company shall also incur capex of up to over Rs 10 billion for its local operations. The entire capex will be completed within a period of 30 months, which is in addition to the current capex underway for the Carbon Black Plant.

Moreover, the US capex and sales volume have been around 30,000 MT in America, and increased traction in sales volume is expected over the next few years and a local plant would accelerate growth prospects. The Board of Directors have, therefore, approved the setting up of a greenfield project with a capacity of 20,000 MTPA through a wholly-owned subsidiary to be set up. The capital outlay will be up to $100 million. The US project will be funded via investments from the parent company and local debt.

With regard to Waluj, a greenfield project will be set up on a freehold land of 22 acre owned by the company, which is within the 5 km radius of the current location. The capex for setting up the new state-of-the-art facilities will be approximately Rs 5 billion including a co-generation plant and in-house warehousing facilities for raw materials and finished goods. The new facilities will bring operational efficiencies, compared to the existing plant leading to a recurring saving in operation. The existing plant will continue to operate till the new plant becomes operational. There would be no change in the capacity.

Moving on to Bhuj, the Board of Directors have approved a capex of up to Rs 5 billion towards setting up a new line of 5,000 MTPA, considering the overall demand in the higher diameter segment for layers of all steel radial OTR tyres and additional mixing line in Bhuj. The entire capex of Rs 17 billion would be funded via a mix of debt and internal accruals.

Going ahead, the company plans to unveil a multitude of innovations in the International Mining & Machinery Exhibition (IMME) 2018, which is to be held in Kolkata from October 31 to November 3, 2018. The event will witness the presence of the latest mining fraternity and will showcase the latest range of mining machinery, equipment, advanced technology solutions, services and supplies from India and from abroad.

'IMME is the largest mining machinery and technology expo in Asia where the entire mining fraternity will be present. The event, which would bring our OEMs under one umbrella, would also witness the unveiling of our latest technology innovation,'Rajiv A Poddar, Joint Managing Director, Balkrishna Industries said.