CEAT Limited

History

The company was founded as Cavi Elettrici e Affini Torino (Electrical Cables and Allied Products of Turin) by Virginio Bruni Tedeschi in 1924, in Turin, Italy. On 10 March 1958, the company was incorporated as CEAT Tyres of India, in Mumbai. Initially, the company collaborated with the Tata Group. In 1972, the company set up a research and development unit at Bhandup in Maharashtra. In 1981, Deccan Fibre Glass Limited was merged with the company.

In 1980, Alberto, son of Virginio, sold the Cavi Elettrici e Affini Torino to investment firm SOFIT, which went on to cut jobs. Oweing to it, in 1981, the company failed in Italy and Pirelli purchased the right to the CEAT name, which it sold to RPG Group in 1983.

In 1982, RPG Group acquired the company, and in 1990, the company was renamed as CEAT. In 1993, the company collaborated with Yokohama Rubber Company, to manufacture radial tyres at their Nashik unit. In 1999, CEAT formed a joint-venture, named as CEAT Kelani, with Asia MotorWorks (AMW) and Kelani Tyres, to manufacture and market CEAT tyres in Sri Lanka. in 2006, CEAT Kelani commissioned their first Sri Lanka–based radial-tyre manufacturing unit in Kalutara. In 2009, AMW exited the joint-venture. In 2020, a new radial tyre factory was set up near Chennai with the initial investment of INR 14000 crore. The factory produces and supplies passenger car radial and two-wheeler radial tyres. The company exports across Asia, America and Europe.

Products

CEAT manufactures tyres for various types of vehicles like heavy commercial vehicles, light commercial vehicle, off-highway tyres, passenger cars, tractors, motorcycles and scooters, cycles and SUVs. It exports Asia.Under the luxury segment in India, CEAT's products include the high-performance CEAT SportDrive and CEAT SportDrive SUV, which allow for enhanced control and more comfort. For motorcycles, CEAT's SportRad tyre focuses on high speed. The CrossRad tyre, on the other hand, facilitates riding in diverse terrains. The SecuraDrive range serves the premium hatchback and Sedan categories; and the SecuraDrive SUV serves the compact SUV segment. In 2022, CEAT launched an all-terrain tyres range called CrossDrive for SUVs.

CEAT's custom-built tyres were used in the sci-fi action film Kalki 2898AD for the futurist 6-tonne car Bujji.

Sponsorships and Events

In 2024, CEAT partnered with German football club Bayer 04 Leverkusen and became the official tyre partner for the next two seasons, until 2026. CEAT is the title Sponsor for the Indian Supercross Racing League (ISRL), which brings riders from all over the world together to compete in a variety of formats and categories. CEAT organised the Cricket Rating Awards in 2023 and awarded domestic and international cricket players (both male and female). The awards were given based on the CEAT cricket rating in June 2022-May 2023.

CEAT is the bat sponsor of cricketers, Rohit Sharma, Shreyas Iyer, and Harmanpreet Kaur. Currently CEAT sponsors the strategic-timeout for the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Women's Premier League (WPL).

CEAT also launched an off-road training program, called 'Enduro', that aimed to train and improve the riding skills of enthusiasts who would want to participate in competitions.

Deming Prize

The company is the first tyre company to win the Deming Prize (awarded in 2023)

Awards

• Sword of Honor award by British Safety Council (Awarded to Chennai and Ambernath plant)
• Lighthouse Certification by World Economic Forum (awarded to Halol plant)

Anti competition practices

In April 2022, the Competition Commission of India raided the headquarters of CEAT along with other tyre companies like Apollo Tyres, MRF (Madras Rubber Factory), and Continental Tyres at multiple locations. Earlier in February the antitrust watch dog had released a statement about fining these tyre companies a total of Rs 1788 crores (of which CEAT fined Rs 252.16 cr.) for sharing price-sensitive information among themselves to manage their cartelization of tyre prices for supplies to the public transport corporation of Haryana state. Earlier, the All India Tyre Dealers Federation had complained to the Ministry of Corporate Affairs about this cartelization of these companies to increase the tyre prices. The ministry had then referred the case to the CCI.

References

References

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17. (20 April 2020). "Buying opportunity for investors as Sensex, Nifty off 34% from record highs; 3 stocks set to rise to 26%". The Financial Express.
18. "BUSINESS TODAY -CEAT Kelani Holdings A Synergy Driven By Quality And Reliability".
19. (2020-02-12). "Ceat opens ₹1,400-crore radial tyre factory near Chennai".
20. www.ETAuto.com. "Ceat plans to enter US market by year-end - ET Auto".
21. "Tyre makers likely to see demand revival on govt's rural boost; CEAT, Apollo, JK Tyre in focus". Moneycontrol.
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23. "CEAT launches new Sportrad and Crossrad radial tyres".
24. (2021-06-25). "CEAT SecuraDrive SUV tyre range launched for compact SUVs".
25. (2022-12-01). "CEAT launches new range of all-terrain tyres for SUVs".
26. "CEAT Engineers Custom-Built Tyres For Bujji, The Star Vehicle Of Sci-Fi Epic Kalki 2898 AD".
27. Singh, Anjali. "CEAT Tyres announces two-year partnership with Bayer 04 Leverkusen". [[Business Standard]].
28. Sur, Dipan. (2023-06-03). "CEAT Indian Supercross Racing League, the world's first franchise-based racing league, launched".
29. (2023-08-22). "Shubman Gill wins multiple honours in 25th CEAT Cricket Rating Awards".
30. Laghate, Gaurav. (31 October 2018). "CEAT extends bat deal with Rohit Sharma by 3 years". The Economic Times.
31. "Harmanpreet Kaur inks cricket bat deal with CEAT".
32. Sharma, Harsh. (26 November 2018). "Women in Blue marching into Men's commercial domain - InsideSport". InsideSport.
33. Dasgupta, Pritha Mitra. (12 March 2015). "CEAT Tyres to sponsor IPL strategic timeout". The Economic Times.
34. (2023-06-14). "Ceat Tyres introduces Enduro Tracks training program". The Times of India.
35. www.ETAuto.com. "CEAT is the first tyre brand globally to win Deming Grand Prize - ET Auto".
36. "CEAT wins Sword of Honour from British Safety Council".
37. Ahmed, Aroosa. (2023-01-16). "CEAT Tyres gets 'Lighhouse Certification' from World Economic Forum for Halol plant".
38. (2022-04-03). "CCI Conducts Raids On Tyre Companies".