The Indian tyre industry has come of age with the manufacture of almost all types of tyres. The industry has an estimated turnover of close to Rs 100 bn. It is made up of 40 players with an installed capacity of 57.3 mn tyres. The industry claims a perceptible export market. The tyre industry in India has had a long history of over 75 years. Three major multinationals, Firestone, Goodyear and Dunlop, have been operating for a long time. Later came in CEAT. During the 1960s and 1970s the dominance of the MNCs was greatly diluted with the entry of Premier, Inchek and MRF. The Indian presence did not stop there. Several new Indian plants were set up, which included those of Modis, JKs, Raunaq Singh group's Apollo Tyres, TVS group and Vikrant. Firestone was acquired by Modis, Dunlop by Manu Chabbria group and CEAT by Duncans (later RPG group). Birla Tyres made a late comer's entry into the industry. The demand of tyres flows from three segments - orginal equipment (OE), replacements and exports. Of the three, the replacement market is the primary source of demand, followed by the OE segment and exports. In India, a large & diverse country, conditions under which tyres are used for different purposes constitute an astonishing variety. Climatic conditions are vastly different & instances may be when trucks with some tyres have to travel through arid, wet, hot, cold & snow-covered conditions in various types of terrains. Overloading of trucks, buses or cars much beyond the permitted load bearing capacities of these vehicles is a regular feature. Hence, in the developing countries like India, where the road conditions are not comparable with developed countries, preference, so far has been towards bias angle. Although some radial passenger car tyres have also been introduced in the market. The commercial vehicles users, especially those engaged in conveying goods by trucks, tempos, etc for transporting goods; need to load goods strictly as per loading capacity. Overloading directly affects the life of the tyre. Few Indian Major Players are as under: Apollo Tyres Ltd. Balkrishna Industries Ltd. Bridgestone India Pvt. Ltd. Ceat Ltd. Dewan Tyres Ltd. Dunlop India Ltd. Eco Wheels Pvt. Ltd. Falcon Tyres Ltd. Goodyear India Ltd. Govind Rubber Ltd. J K Tyre & Inds. Ltd. Krypton Industries Ltd. M R F Ltd. Modi Rubber Ltd. Modi Tyres Co. Pvt. Ltd. Modistone Ltd. Monotona Tyres Ltd. Poddar Tyres Ltd. Raam Tyres Ltd. Rado Tyres Ltd. Ralson (India) Ltd. Ralson Industries Ltd. S Kumars Tyre Mfg. Co. Ltd. Suntec Tyres Ltd. T V S Srichakra Ltd.