JK Opened First Retread Centre in Manipur

Imphal Tyre Remould has emerged as the first JK Retread Center in the North-Eastern part of India. Based in Imphal, the capital of the North Eastern State of Manipur, the retreader became a JKRC centre during September last year.

Imphal Tyre Remould Become First JK Retread Center in North-Eastern India

The company has invested in new machinery as a pre-requisite for JKRC accreditation and installed a 5-tyre autoclave along with the rest of the machinery. “Currently, we are maintaining an average production of about 300 tyres each month, retreading truck and LCV tyres,” informed Suresh Raj Kumar of Imphal Tyre Remould.

On the scope of retreading in the state, Kumar said, “Retreading has lot of scope as all supplies in the state are transported by trucks and LCVs due to the fact that there is currently no railway network here. The state is 100% dependent on trucks for all its logistics requirements.”

However, Indian railways is now constructing a line between Imphal and Jiribam, which is expected to be completed by 2025. “The retreading industry will continue to do well until the train comes,” said Kumar. “It will then be seen how the impact will be on life in Manipur.”

Imphal is quite a developed market for retreading with almost all the major Indian brands having a customer base in the state capital. “The Imphal market is worth between 2,000 to 2,500 retreads per month,” he said. Imphal ha a number of retreaders from the so-called organised sector, representing brands like Apollo, Elgi, MRF, JK and Indag, who has four customers alone.

The owner of Imphal Tyre Remould says he has plans to set-up a retread site in the North towards the Chin Hill region, probably during 2024, as that area is still untapped by the retreading sector. Chin Hill is a range of mountains in Chin State (Northwest Myanmar) that extends northwards into India’s Manipur state.