Tyre manufacture CEAT Ltd will invest over Rs 4,500 crore to expand capacity at its Chennai plant from 24,000 tyres per day to 40,000 tyres per day by September 2027, as part of a broader manufacturing ramp-up across plants, even as the company on Tuesday reported a 145% rise in consolidated net profit to Rs 243.80 crore in Q4 FY26.
The Chennai expansion will take capacity first to 30,000 tyres per day and will focus on tyres for both electric vehicles and internal combustion engine vehicles. “For now, EV tyres account for less than 5% of revenue. The share is small because we are manufacturing only for OEMs. Replacement orders have not come yet,” Kumar Subbiah, CFO of CEAT Ltd, said.
In addition, the company is expanding two-wheeler tyre production capacity at its Nagpur plant from 80,000 to 1 lakh tyres per day. Truck and bus radial tyre capacity will increase from 1,500 to 2,000 per day by the end of Q2 FY27 and further to 3,000 by Q1 FY28. CEAT has planned capex of more than Rs 1,070 crore in the current financial year.
For the quarter ended March, the company posted a consolidated net profit of Rs 243.80 crore, up from Rs 98.71 crore in the year-ago period. Growth was driven by steady raw material prices and sustained gross margins.
Operating revenue rose to Rs 4,218.89 crore in Q4 FY26 from Rs 3,420.62 crore a year ago. “Our international business grew 20% in the last two quarters,” Subbiah said.
A strong order pipeline helped the company offset disruptions arising from the West Asia crisis. “Exports to West Asia have been impacted since March. West Asia demand will continue to be affected until the situation normalises. We did not face any problem in fulfilling orders for other geographies in March and April,” he said.
The company derives 20-25% of its revenue from West Asia, while Europe contributes 30%, the US 3-4%, and Southeast Asia, including South Asia, 16-18%. It has been redirecting products to other markets to cushion the impact of lower exports to West Asia.
The Board has approved a dividend of Rs 35 per equity share (350%) for FY25-26, subject to shareholder approval.