Apollo Tyres is planning a major capacity expansion of Dunlop South Africa facility. The project may be taken up for implementation in 2008-09.
Apollo had acquired Dunlop Tyres International (Proprietary) Ltd, South Africa (DTIPL) along with its subsidiaries in Zimbabwe and the UK in April 2006 through an all-cash deal worth Rs 290 crore.
Mr S. Sarkar, Chief of Corporate Strategy and Marketing of Apollo Tyres, told Business Line that Apollo has already ramped up the production of the South African facility from 150 tonnes to 170 tonnes a day through various de-bottlenecking exercises.
The capacity may be further stretched by another 20 tonnes in this fiscal by increasing the productivity.
"We are currently stretching the capacity of the South African facility by improving the productivity without any additional investment in plant and machinery. The process will be completed in this fiscal following which we may invest in capacity augmentation," Mr Sarkar said. "The project may be taken up in the next fiscal," he added.
Apollo had acquired Dunlop Tyres International (Proprietary) Ltd, South Africa (DTIPL) along with its subsidiaries in Zimbabwe and the UK in April 2006 through an all-cash deal worth Rs 290 crore. 
