CEAT India picks Sri Lanka for mega sales and regional conference

CEAT Managing Director Anant Goenka (right) presents an award at the event held in Sri Lanka

Several key strategic decisions relating to the tyre business were taken at a high-powered conference in Colombo this week when manufacturing giant CEAT Ltd. conducted its annual sales and regional conference in Sri Lanka for the first time.

More than 200 delegates, 188 of them from India, congregated in Colombo for this event which included a gala awards night at the Hilton Colombo and an outbound training programme in Bentota. Some of India’s best known business leaders including Anant Goenka, Managing Director of CEAT Ltd., were among the senior delegates that participated.

The producer of more than 15 million tyres a year and a strong player in global markets, CEAT Limited is the flagship company of RPG Enterprises, one of India’s fastest-growing business groups, with a turnover of $ 3.5 billion. CEAT India has a 50% stake in the CEAT-Kelani joint venture that meets half of Sri Lanka’s tyre requirements.

“We are delighted that CEAT India chose Sri Lanka as the location for its annual conference,” CEAT Sri Lanka Managing Director Vijay Gambhire said. “Besides being an endorsement of the country’s attraction as a location for such important events, it also provides an opportunity for closer interaction between executives of the two companies and promotes understanding of corporate cultures.”

CEAT is built on a corporate ethos of reliability, dynamism and toughness. The company is committed to innovate, rebuild and help millions of vehicles go the distance. A global tyre brand present in 110 countries, CEAT is an acronym that stands for Cavi Electrici Affini Torino, or Electrical Cables & Allied Products of Turin, with origins that date back to 1924 in Italy.

In Sri Lanka, CEAT’s manufacturing operations encompass the radial, commercial, motorcycle, three-wheeler and agricultural machinery segments. The brand accounts for market shares of 30% in the radial segment, 51% in the Truck/Light Truck category, 54% in the Three-Wheeler segment, 17% in the Motorcycle segment and 72% in the Agricultural Tyre category. 

CEAT Sri Lanka was a National Business Excellence Award winner in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2015 and a National Quality Award winner in the ‘Manufacturing – Large’ category in 2013.