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. There is a tremendous growth of automobile industry and a comprecedentally large number of multi famous brands of cars, trucks and other vehicles coming up. The demand of radial tyres for cars and trucks is increasing at a considerable face. Tyre varieties can be divided into two categories cross ply and radial. The domestic industry is dominated by cross ply tyres, due to the poor conditions of roads in the country and overloading of commercial vehicles (CVs). This is also the reason why penetration of radial tyres in the CV segment is negligible and finds presence only in the passenger car segment. Radial tyres can be differentiated on the type of belt used “ fiberglass, steel and nylon. Worldwide, steel belted radials are more popular due to their performance advantage. Tyres for car and truck are used in the appropriate vehicle for running the vehicle. As the vehicles have colossal scope, the scope of radial tyres for cars, trucks etc. are also very bright. While consumers pay a lot of attention to the automobile they are buying – its engine, seating capacity, color, even the stereos and accessories – little attention is paid to the tyres that carry the weight of the car and its occupants. Consumers will scour the market to find the cheapest tyre and finally may even settle for part-worn or reconditioned rubber. Cars on Indian roads are increasing by the minute and India is slated to have the maximum number of cars on the planet by 2050. With each new car, four new tyres will hit the roads will the tyre industry be able to address not just quality and performance issues. The industry is currently classified into two broader technology segments: the traditional cross-ply and technically-superior radial technology, especially in the passenger cars segment. The industry had fully absorbed the oldish bias technology. The industry still depends on foreign majors for radial technology but motivated by the export market it has been adopting it rapidly. JK Tyres pioneered the production of radial tyres in India, which was followed by Ceat, MRF, Dunlop and Apollo. The radial technology has, however, remained mainly confined to passenger car tyres. JK Tyres ventured into the tyres for fast moving mid-sized car segment with its Ultima XPS. It is pitted directly against Bridgestone, which claims a leadership in radials. Efforts are on to radialise the commercial vehicle tyres. The production process and testing requirements of a radial tyre are technologically superior to conventional tyres. Radials have not made any perceptible dent in the HCV market because of bad road conditions and high level of investment required for this type of tyres. The State Road Transport Corporations, being substantially large buyers of tyres, could be the target to go in for radials. Given the state of the financial performance of these government owned corporations, the use of radial tyres is likely to remain a distant realization. Radial tyres cost 30% more but result in about 7% fuel saving and give almost double the mileage (80,000 kms). All cars launched by foreign auto majors come with radial tyres. However, some perceptible headway in renationalisation of tyres in India is noticeable and its usage is estimated at 10% of HCVs, 12% of LCVs, 5% of jeeps and 58% of cars. It is expected that the demand of radial tyres will increase tremendously. New entrepreneurs can well venture into this field. 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.