Chennai: Amid geopolitical uncertainties and raw material cost pressures, India’s leading tyre makers are pressing ahead with aggressive capacity expansion plans, banking on a healthy demand outlook driven by replacement segment, premiumisation and infrastructure-led mobility trends. Leading tyre manufacturers such as MRF, Apollo Tyres, Ceat, JK Tyre & Industries and Balkrishna Industries have lined up a combined capital expenditure of over Rs 10,000 crore for FY27. The investments span passenger vehicle, truck and bus, two-wheeler and off-highway tyre segments.Apollo Tyres has outlined a Rs 3,500-crore capex plan for FY27, with nearly 80% earmarked for growth and capacity expansion. Around Rs 3,000 crore will be invested in India to expand truck and passenger radial tyre capacities, while the balance will fund passenger car tyre expansion at its Hungary facility. Capacity utilisation remains high at around 90% in both India and Europe.MRF has also indicated significant investments for FY27, with the Chennai-headquartered tyre maker expected to incur more than Rs 2,000 crore in capital expenditure to ramp up production capacity across its manufacturing facilities.Despite robust demand, tyre makers remain wary of volatility in raw material, energy and logistics costs stemming from the West Asia crisis, and and resort to further price increases to protect margins.Ceat is operating at capacity utilisation levels of 85-90% across categories and plans an outlay of Rs 1,350- Rs 1,400 crore in FY27, including growth capex, about 25% higher than the Rs 1,076 crore spent in FY26, excluding the CAMSO-related acquisition outlay.Balkrishna Industries has approved an additional capex of Rs 2,000 crore to expand capacities across off-highway and on-highway tyre categories. Its FY26 capital expenditure stood at around Rs 2,800 crore.JK Tyre said during its Q3FY26 earnings call that it would invest ₹1,130 crore to expand capacities across truck and bus radial (TBR), passenger car radial (PCR) and all-steel light truck radial (ASLTR) tyre segments. The company reported radial tyre capacity utilisation of over 95%, while overall utilisation across its India operations touched 90%. It is expected to announce its FY27 capex outlay along with its FY26 results next week.
