Apollo Tyres Limited is an Indian multinational tyre manufacturing company headquartered in

Gurugram Gurgaon (), officially named Gurugram (), is a satellite city of Delhi and administrative headquarters of Gurgaon district, located in the northern Indian state of Haryana. It is situated near the Delhi–Haryana border, about southwest o ...

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

. It was incorporated in 1972, and its first plant was commissioned in

Perambra Perambra is a major town in Koyilandy taluk of Kozhikode district in North Malabar region of Kerala state, India. Perambra is the anglicized form of the original name 'Payyormala' from the British rule. It is one of the 140 assembly constituen ...

Thrissur Thrissur (, ), Renaming of cities in India, formerly Trichur, also known by its historical name Thrissivaperur, is a city and the headquarters of the Thrissur district in Kerala, India. It is the List of most populous urban agglomerations in Ke ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

. The company now has five manufacturing units in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, one in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and one in

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

. The company generates 69% of its revenues from India, 26% from

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

and 5% from other countries. Apollo announced its entry into the three-wheeler tyre segment with contract manufacturing in March 2018.

History

Apollo Tyres Ltd. was incorporated on 28 September 1972 in India as a public limited company and obtained certificate of Commencement of Business on 24 October 1972. The company was promoted by Bharat Steel Tubes, Ltd., Raunaq International Pvt. Ltd., Raunaq & Co. Pvt. Ltd., Raunaq Singh, Mathew T. Marattukalam and Jacob Thomas. In 1975, the company made its Initial public offer of equity shares and its first manufacturing facility was commissioned in

Plant,

, India in 1977, followed by its 2nd plant at Limda, Gujarat, India in 1991. The company acquired Premier Tyres Limited in 1995, which became its 3rd plant at

Kochi Kochi ( , ), List of renamed Indian cities and states#Kerala, formerly known as Cochin ( ), is a major port city along the Malabar Coast of India bordering the Laccadive Sea. It is part of the Ernakulam district, district of Ernakulam in the ...

, Kerala, India. In 2008, it started a new plant at

Chennai Chennai, also known as Madras (List of renamed places in India#Tamil Nadu, its official name until 1996), is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Tamil Nadu by population, largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost states and ...

Tamil Nadu, India Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. A year later in 2009, the company acquired the Netherlands-based tyre maker Vredestein Banden B.V. (VBBV) for an undisclosed sum The company focused on the production of truck tyres in India and introduced its first truck tyre, Rajdhani in India. The company expanded its operation across India and in 1996, expanded operations outside India by acquiring Dunlop's Africa operations. In 2013, it disposed of the Dunlop brand in Africa along with most of the South African operation in a sale to

Sumitomo Rubber Industries is a global tire and rubber company based in Japan. It is part of the Sumitomo Group. The company makes a wide range of rubber based products, including automobile tires, golf balls and tennis balls. Sumitomo tire brands include Dunlop (in ce ...

of Japan. The very same year, it started its Global R&D Centre, in

Enschede Enschede (; local ) is a list of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the province of Overijssel and the Twente region of the eastern Netherlands. The east of the urban area reaches ...

, the Netherlands. In 2015, Apollo Tyres bought Germany's Reifencom tyre distributor for €45.6 million. It shifted its corporate office for Europe region to Amsterdam from Enschede, the Netherlands and opened a Global R&D Centre, Asia in

, India a few months later. In 2016, the company signed an MoU with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to set up a new factory in the state. On 9 January 2018, the

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh The chief minister of Andhra Pradesh is the chief executive of the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. In accordance with the Constitution of India, the governor is a state's ''de jure'' head, but '' de facto'' executive authority rests with the ch ...

, N Chandrababu Naidu laid the foundation stone for Apollo Tyres' ₹1,800-crore tyre factory in

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

. The plant will come up over a 200-

acre The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

site in Chinnapanduru village near Sri City in

Tirupati district Tirupati district () is one of the eight districts of Rayalaseema region in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh.The district headquarters is located at Tirupati city. This district is known for its numerous historic temples, including the Hindu ...

and produce passenger car radial (PCR) tyres with an initial capacity of 55

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2, 2, 3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. F ...

(5.5 million) tyres per year and also truck bus radial (TBR) tyres and will serve both domestic and export markets. The company's second plant in Europe, was inaugurated by the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, in April 2017.

European operations

Apollo Tyres currently sells Apollo and Vredestein (or Maloya) branded tyres in Europe. The company currently operates two tyre factories in Europe; in the

and in

. The

plant was acquired from Vredestein, the newly built facility southeasterly from Gyöngyöshalász was inaugurated for production on 7 April 2017.

Anti competition practices

In April 2022, the

Competition Commission of India The Competition Commission of India (CCI) is the chief national competition regulator in India. It is a statutory body within the Ministry of Corporate Affairs and is responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, 2002 to promote competition a ...

raided the headquarters of Apollo Tyres along with other tyre companies like CEAT, MRF (Madras Rubber Factory) and Continental Tyre at multiple locations. Earlier in February the anti trust watch dog had released a statement about fining these tyre companies a total of 1,788 crores (of which Apollo Tyres fined 425.53 cr.) for sharing price sensitive information among themselves to manage their cartelization of tyre prices for supplies to the public transport corporation of Haryana state. Earlier the All India Tyre Dealers Federation had complained to the

Ministry of Corporate Affairs The Ministry of Corporate Affairs is an Indian government ministry primarily concerned with administration of the Companies Act 2013, the Companies Act 1956, the Limited Liability Partnership Act, 2008, and the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code, 2 ...

about this cartelization of these companies to increase the tyre prices. The ministry had then referred the case to the CCI.

References

External links

*
Dunlop Tyres South Africa website

Apollo Tyres Acquires Vredestein Banden BV
{{Nifty 200 companies Manufacturing companies based in Gurgaon Manufacturing companies established in 1972 Tyre manufacturers of India Automotive companies of India Indian brands Indian companies established in 1972 Companies listed on the National Stock Exchange of India Companies listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange