Mumbai, November 24, 2015: GRP Ltd, India’s largest and world’s leading rubber recycling company and Marangoni S.p.a, world’s leading tyre retreading company will establish a joint venture to carry on the business of commercial vehicle tyre retreading in India.

The JV leverages the strengths of the two partners – Marangoni as a retreading systems company and GRP in rubber recycling and understanding of the Indian market – to bring a world class retreading solution (not just product) to the Indian Commercial Vehicle Fleets that will help them extend the life of their tyres and lower their operational costs.

A unique technology that will be seen in India for the first time will be Marangoni’s Ring System – RINGTREAD – the splice-less retread. RINGTREAD delivers more mileage, better grip, is more reliable and eventually delivers higher savings to fleets.

In addition to this, the JV will bring environmental benefits to the country in general and the transportation sectors in particular as good quality retreaded tyres are environmentally friendly due to lesser resource utilization.

Speaking on the occasion, Mr Harsh Gandhi, Executive Director, GRP Ltd said, “Our relationship with Marangoni as a supplier to them is more than a decade old and has been built on principles of mutual trust and respect. From our experience in tyre recycling, we believe that the growing pace of radialisation is an opportunity to bring a world class-retreading concept to Indian fleets. We did not need to look beyond Marangoni for this.”

Mr Massimo De Alessandri – CEO, Marangoni Group added, “The evolution of the Indian market provides Marangoni a great opportunity to expand its global footprint. We have been studying the market for some years now and believe that the time is opportune to bring our global concept to the country. The expanding road network and the wide acceptance of radials by fast professionalizing fleets give us the confidence that together with GRP, we can establish a solid presence in India.”

The JV inaugurated its first Flagship Store at Indore on November 23, 2015. Indore was chosen as the first location since it is a large trucking centre and the level of radialisation there is >50% – much higher than the national rate of around 36% currently. In subsequent months, the JV expects to attract entrepreneurs looking to invest in the automotive tyre sector, independent retreaders desiring to upgrade their existing stores to make them future-proof in a fast changing market and GRP’s suppliers of end-of-life tyres.