BS reported that, as Indian tyre manufacturers reel under the high prices of raw materials like natural rubber, crude oil and carbon black, they face a tough challenge from China even as its exports to India climbs multi fold.

According to data provided by Automotive Tyre Manufacturers Association, from 39th rank in 2002-03, India climbed to the 3rd position in 2007. During April 2007 to February 2008 period, Indian imports from China surged almost two fold to 1.2 million units from 660,000 units. The Indian tyre market comprising tyres of cars, UV, OTR, trucks and buses, is worth INR 20,000 crore currently.

Mr Rajiv Bhudhraja director general of ATMA said that "The average price of a pair of Chinese truck tyre is about INR 7,500, which is significantly lower than Indian prices which retail at about INR 13,000 to INR 15,000. More than 100,000 Chinese tyres are imported every month, totaling to about INR 900 crore yearly. More alarming is the fact that people have changed their perspective about products from China, which was once thought to be sub standard."

He added that "China has been able to sell radial tyres at such lower rates to India because of the very low cost of manufacturing in that country and also due to under voicing the imports and selling them without paying VAT here. In addition, China has huge capacities of radial tyres."

The domestic tyre market consists of leading players like MRF followed by Apollo, Bridgestone, CEAT, JK Tyres, Michelin, Goodyear, among others.