Ceat gains traction in Europe: CEO

NEW DELHI: Tyre maker Ceat said its main focus is to grow its overseas business, with Europe emerging as a key market despite rising geopolitical tensions and renewed global tariff concerns.

Ceat MD and CEO Arnab Banerjee said its international business gives better profit margins than tyres sold to consumers as replacements or to car and truck manufacturers. "We want our saliency to grow in the international business as it is margin accretive over replacement and OEMs. Our focus is to grow international business."

"Europe is a big market for us. We have traction in Europe. We got some OEM approvals for our all five-way tyre business that did well," Banerjee added. The US market, however, remains uncertain due to tariff-related issues. "The US is touch and go... we are waiting for the tariff situation to settle down. We are building our network there and absorbed some of the cost in terms of sharing the tariff impact with our channel partners," Banerjee said.

On the domestic front, Banerjee said demand sentiment improved.