The company is being driven by the forces of digitalisation, technology and innovation, people, and brand and sustainability
Apollo Tyres Limited recently held its 49th Annual General Meeting (AGM) where it presented the audited accounts for the financial year ended March 31, 2022. Speaking on the occasion, Chairman and Managing Director Onkar Kanwar said, “You will agree that the Indian economy is a resilient one given the way it has strongly bounced back in this fiscal. It has posted one of the best GDP growth numbers in recent times as it expanded by 8.7%, the highest in the past 22 years. This improvement in the economy comes on the back of the pandemic which had impacted our growth significantly in FY21 with GDP contracting by 6.6%.”
“With the economy on a fast growth path, it is expected that Apollo Tyres will outpace this growth. For FY22, Apollo Tyres grew at a robust pace of 20% with both regions showing above average growth. The Indian operations grew by 23% and the Europe business grew by 18%. I would like to specially call out a big milestone achieved by our European business. I have earlier mentioned about our ‘premiumisation’ strategy for the Europe business and we have been focussing on profitable products like agricultural tyres and high-value, niche segment passenger car tyres. The fiscal saw us crossing the mark of Euro 100 million as EBIDTA during the year. This is the highest ever EBITDA for the operations over the last 13 years,” he added.
The company set up a greenfield plant in Andhra Pradesh in FY21, a year where largely everyone was left immobilised due to the pandemic. It continued to work at a frantic pace during FY22 as the company kick-started the year with the virtual launch of a new vision, purpose and values for the next five years. “We announced the ambitious target of reaching USD 5 billion by 2025-26. I am confident that with the customers’ support and the drive by our people, we will reach the target. Importantly, we clearly articulated our growth pillars to reach the USD 5 billion aspiration and equally help us to navigate through the uncertain, turbulent times ahead,” Kanwar said.
Vision and Mission
The company’s growth pillars include digitalisation, technology and innovation, people, and brand and sustainability. “The focus on these pillars helped us to do product launches, expanded our dealer network, work on process efficiencies and so much more during the year. One interesting highlight of the year was the launch of the much awaited ‘Vredestein’ brand in India.
We had launched the new identity of Vredestein brand in FY21 and this allowed us to position the brand, which has a legacy of over 110 years, as an even more premium brand. In the fiscal, we saw a stellar launch of the brand in India and introduced its best-in-class and awarded premium range of tyres for passenger car and two-wheelers,” Kanwar informed.
The brand has been well-received in Europe and accorded top ratings in North America. In recent times, sustainability has become a core focus area for Apollo Tyres and has been embedded in its way of working. “We believe in creating a responsible company in pursuit of sustainable growth and profits. We have created a culture where we expect each employee to behave and act in a socially responsible manner. We have made a commitment to be carbon-neutral by 2050 and are working on multiple aspects to make this a reality. We are increasing the usage of sustainable raw material and encouraging our value chain to accelerate on the sustainable journey,” Kanwar stated.
“We focus on the challenges posed by end-of-life tyres and finding innovative ways to use such tyres. We have been setting up pitches across various locations in India using re-purposed tyres. Further, all our sustainability initiatives are aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. I am proud to mention that the company is amongst the very few companies in India and, possibly, the only company in the automotive industry in India looking at reducing SCOPE 3 emissions – emissions across the value chain, which represent 65-90% of all emissions at many companies,” Kanwar added.
“I understand the challenges for the planet and the need for each one of us to take responsibility and act on serious issues like climate change, global warming and hence the need and our focus on sustainability,” he further stated. Elaborating about the growth mission of the company, Kanwar said, “Looking ahead, I see the year as challenging and uncertain. But such challenges and uncertainty have not stopped us in the past and will not do so now. The company will continue to invest in the areas of its growth pillars and write its own destiny. We will continue to work in line with our vision and drive progress as we take all our stakeholders in the journey of enabling excellence – our purpose and reason why we exist.”