Chhabria Says Dunlop Likely To Import And Sell Chinese Tyres

Manu Chhabria, the chairman of Dunlop India, today said the company was planning to import tyres from China and sell them under Dunlop brand locally.

Explaining the rationale behind the move, Chhabria said, "We have to bring the cost of production down. Our production cost is Rs 19 per kg, while that of out subsidiary, Falcon Tyres, is Rs 6 a kg. One cannot run a company at this production cost, which the workers do not understand."

Dunlop is strapped with high manpower, but has been unsuccessful in lower its manpower strength.

"Given a chance, I would not like to bring down the number of workers, but there is no other alternative but give VRS to the workers," Chhabria said.

Dunlop has a total staff strength in excess of 6,000 employees.

Chhabria had pumped in Rs 30 crore and is ready to put in another Rs 50 crore. "A VRS would be the ideal thing," he said. But he remained non-committal on what he viewed as the ideal staff strength of Dunlop.

Chhabria, the single-largest shareholder in Dunlop is keen on reviving the Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) referred company.

Chhabria said, 'I am ready to pump in money in Dunlop but I am also expecting some concessions under the BIFR scheme.'