Indian auto industry opening value addition possibilities

Anjana Samarasinghe

RUBBER: The local rubber industry needs to focus more on value addition to cater to the rapidly growing Indian automobile industry.

Chairman of the India Rubber Expo Anil Sampat speaking at the promotional seminar on India Rubber Expo which was held at the Export Development Board EDB said the Indian automobile industry is growing rapidly and has 26 percent to 27 percent annual growth. The Indian automobile industry is expected to be a USD 40 billion industry by 2015.

Sri Lanka could be a major supplier of rubber accessories for the Indian automobile industry. But Lanka needs to focus more on polymer rubber which are used for automobile applications than traditional rubber exports, he said.

All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA) together with CAPEXIL the trade facilitation arm of the Government of India has organised India Rubber Expo 2007, Asia's largest rubber show which will be held from January 17 to 20 at the Chennai Trade Centre.

'There is a good demand for the polymer rubbers in the international market.

It is time for Sri Lanka to expand their product range and try for more value addition in the industry to cater to the international market needs', he said.

'In a vehicle nearly 45 percent of rubber is used for tyres and nearly 20 percent of rubber is used for other components. There are four to five automobile producers in Chennai and a large number of vendors.

'Countries like Taiwan are some of the suppliers for this big industry, he said.

However it has been predicted that one plant will produce 1.2 million vehicles in 2009 in India. At present India is the fifth largest rubber consuming country in the world.

Sampat said India Rubber Expo 2007 will be a unique opportunity to meet manufacturers, suppliers, raw material manufacturers, and service providers to the rubber industry from all over Asia and the world.

A Sri Lankan pavilion will also be featured at the show.

Director General of EDB Sujatha Weerakone said that rubber exports from Sri Lanka to India has increased from Rs 113 million in 2001 to Rs 1156 million last year. This is basically due to the Indo-Sri Lanka FTA and the market development programme conducted by the EDB.