| While the tyre manufacturers have welcomed this move, industry body Society of India Automobile Manufacturers Association (SIAM) has raised objection to this move. |
| SIAM officials said that vehicles that are sold in India go through the homologation exercise, which also checks for the quality of tyres that fitted on automobiles. "The homologation process ensures that the tyres that the used comply to safety standards. Branding with the ISI mark therefore is not necessary," said a SIAM official. |
| Apart from being manufactured in India, fully built cars"" known as completely built units (CBUs)""are also imported to meet the domestic demand. "These imports are in small numbers and hence one cannot expect the importer to have them fitted with tyres that bear the ISI mark," the official added. |
| Moreover, there is also a fear among automobile companies that since the government will not be able to enforce this new guideline on imported tyres, the domestic demand for tyres will have to be met only by domestic suppliers. |
| "This could lead to a problems like rigid pricing policy of tyre manufacturers," said the SIAM official. Hence ramping up of capacity by automobile companies, at short notice, too could be come a problem. |
| Tyre manufacturers however said that the fear of a rigid price policy setting in due to the ISI branding is completely baseless. Industry sources also pointed out that the ISI branding of tyres was in force until three years back. |
| Of the Rs 14,000 crore tyres industry in India, an estimated 15-17 per cent of the business comes from original equipment manufacturers and the rest from after/replacement market. |
| Apart from these there is also a strong demand (estimated at 20 per cent of the new tyre market), coming from demand for retreaded tyres. The policy guidelines are yet to specify the safety standards that would be mandated for retreaded tyres. |
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