MUMBAI: Demonetisation, the introduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the anti-dumping structure have resulted in a decline in import of Chinese tyres, the chairman of Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association (ATMA) said.
“Now you can say Chinese imports have become less than half,” ATMA chairman Satish Sharma told reporters. “During the demonetisation month (November 2016), it dropped by 20%. GST, coupled with anti-dumping duty, it has started to sink further.” Noting that import of Chinese tyres had started to ‘decline’, he said, “the imports of Chinese tyres stood at 1,50,000 units in May 2016. Today, it is 50,000 units and still going down.”
Dealers had become “confident” of not purchasing Chinese tyres as the profitability of the imports had also crashed, he said. To a query on the growth of the tyre industry, he said: “My guess is that the industry this year would see a high single digit (growth) and then it should be in the double digit (as turnover).”
India signing free trade agreements would also give support to the industry.
Stating that India was not producing radial tyres when the world was looking for radial tyres a decade ago, Mr. Sharma said, “now we are producing radial tyres, we are reentering the world market and the world has taken note of this.”
