Tyre manufacturers baulk at new regulations, reveals RTI

Industry says it needs more time to test and validate tyres before it can implement government mandates

Pushing the industry to adopt and implement new government mandates is easy on paper but not so easy to action if sufficient time is not factored in. India’s tyre manufacturing community is not happy with the latest government mandated directives.

While the government claims that it wants to revisit technical requirements of rolling resistance, wet grip and rolling sound emissions in tyres for cars, trucks and buses with the view of bringing it on par with European standards, it’s a huge challenge for the tyre industry to meet the short deadline.

The government wants the tyre industry to comply and ensure they are effected into practice beginning October 1, 2022.

It’s this time frame that is worrying the industry as they feel that it’s too short for them to comply due to several reasons like shortage of test tracks or infrastructure.

All major tyre manufacturers in India including domestic and foreign brands are in agreement with the fact that there’s a lack of tyre testing facilities in the country that is important for the development of such tyres. Documents accessed by Autocar Professional sourced through Right to Information (RTI) suggest that the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) had on May 17, 2021, proposed the amendment in tyre safety norms. The proposed plan was to be applicable for all new tyre designs that would be introduced in the Indian market, beginning October 1, 2021.

The exercise would factor in existing tyre designs across the three vehicle segments, by October 1, 2022.

At the time, industry stakeholders were given a month's time to raise objections or comments, if they had any.