Tyre Asia – May-June 2018

70 Tyre Asia April/May 2018

COVER STORY

As President & Chief Business Officer based out of Singapore,

Sunam Sarkar not only keeps an eye on the tyre and rubber

markets in the region, but also guides Apollo Tyres’ global growth

strategy. As a strategic thinker he shares his plans with the

company’s global management team. From integrated supply

chain including raw material sourcing, to production planning his

inputs are highly valued. As he grew up with the organisation since

1999, he understands the world vision of the Kanwars as Apollo

consolidates its leadership in India across product categories and

pushes the plans to turn the Hungary operations as the preferred

choice of OEMs in Europe. He also drives his talented team to

further expand into the North American market. The thrust is

to make Apollo as the preferred company of OEMs worldwide.

Excerpts from the interview

Focus on OEM Strategy

What are the main strategies of the

company, especially as Apollo is on an

expansion spree globally? What are the

main challenges?

Our strategy is to consolidate our leadership in India in

the coming years across product categories. This will

be strengthened by our full range of product offerings

addressing all segments of the Indian Market. The full

range play allows for penetrating deeper into the already

strong distribution that we have in India.

With the Hungary plant coming on stream, we have

now started supplying to some of the leading OEMs in

Europe, which is likely to give us further growth in that

market. We have also recently put a team in place for

the North American market, who, along with the R&D

Team, is working on the products to suit the US market

requirements.

The volatile raw material prices continue to be an

economic challenge for our business. On the social front,

meeting the growing needs of the community where we

operate, and all stakeholders at large, will always remain a

challenge for us. Having said that, we frequently measure

our strategic preparedness against these challenges, and

strive to overcome them.

TA News Bureau

Sunam Sarkar

Apollo R&D Centre in Chennai