Hailing the formation of a working group on natural rubber by the Rubber Board, the Automotive Tyre Manufacturers' Association has emphasised the need to maintain quality of rubber, which is increasingly crucial in tyre manufacturing.

The ATMA Chairman, Satish Sharma, said that Indian tyre manufacturing is converging to the world in R&D, automation and technology. Quality of natural rubber as a key determinant of end product quality needs to go up the curve to keep pace with the changing scenario in manufacturing.

In his keynote address at Asian Tyre & Rubber Conference (ATRC), he pointed out that R&D spend by major tyre companies have gone up three-fold from 0.6 per cent of revenue five years ago to more than 2 per cent. However quality of tyres is largely determined by the quality of raw materials.

Being the largest consumer of natural rubber in the country, he said the tyre industry has a lot at stake when it comes to quality and consistency delivered sustainably.

The demands and expectations of auto sector and motorists from tyres have gone up manifold. Tyres are expected to meet the mutually diverse demands of grip, low rolling resistance, light weighting and fuel efficiency.

Manufacturing technologically superior tyres, especially new generation truck and bus radials, require very high quality of rubber as a critical raw-material. The quality of natural rubber and other raw materials is therefore paramount, he added.