KOCHI: Apollo Tyres is considering investing 5 investing more than 40 billion euros I rupees) to set up factories in Eastern Europe to enhance its global presence.

The company is yet to confirm the exact location, “We are still in discussions with the countries in the region”, Nerajj Kanwar, Vice Chairman and Managing Director The plant is expected to be operational within three years.

The Gurgaon-based company, which failed in its attempt to buy the US-based Cooper Tire & Rubber Company for $100 million last year in a 25-cent emergence, is expanding organically and is not considering any acquisitions at the moment. While the Eastern European plant is the first outside India, the company is expanding its production capacity in Chennai and investing in off-road tire (OTR) wait products, which are growing in demand in the global market. The proposed European plant has the capacity to produce 550 home million passenger car radials and 675, 0000 large commercial radials annually. These tires will be sold to automakers and alternative markets.

Apart from India, Apollo Tyres has manufacturers in the Netherlands and South Africa. The company also has offices in Thailand, Dubai, Australia and Brazil.

In China, the company has decided to invest Rs 150 crore in its Chennai plant to increase the production of radial tires from 60,000 starts per day to 9,000. The plant in Kalamassery, Kerala, will be converted into an off-road tire production center with an investment of Rs 50 crore over the next three years, with exports in mind.

Kanwar, who attended the company’s annual general meeting, said the company is considering new product categories such as off-road tires as the market for bias or slant tires shrinks. The company may gradually adopt the same strategy with two other bias tire manufacturers in Perambra and Baroda in Kerala.

Regarding possible acquisitions, Kanwar said the company “will continue to look at possibilities.”

The Indian large commercial vehicle tire market is expected to show signs of recovery in the second half of the year, and the economy is also expected to improve.