We are in midst of very uncertain times due to spread of the COVID-19 pandemic in India and across the world. I hope that each one of you and your family members are safe and continue to adhere to the various guidelines and are taking all necessary precautions.

It has my life’s mission to find opportunities in the face of challenges and in the process deliver value to all our stakeholders including employees, shareholders, customers, partners and other relevant communities. I, along with the senior leadership, have tried to instil the same belief in our colleagues at the company to make it a part of our values and ways of working.

Combined with our long-term vision of becoming a global leader in the industry and guided by our values – the Apollo Way, we have successfully adapted to the changing market realities in the past as we continue to drive leadership even in the current new normal. Yet at the core, we continue to pursue our profitable growth strategy focussed on a three-pronged approach - consolidate market position in existing markets while seeking new markets/new segments; continue investment in both the brands – Apollo and Vredestein and capacity expansion to feed our markets; and exploring other growth opportunities.

FY20 was a tough year by all measures. While the auto industry had been on a slow growth path even in FY19, the last year proved to be a complete dampener for the industry due to poor consumer sentiment, increased cost of ownership due to higher insurance cost, and higher financing cost due to the NBFC liquidity crisis. We were still bullish about the economy bouncing back and did see signs of a recovery in the third quarter, but the fourth quarter witnessed headwinds in the form of the COVID-19 outbreak and the subsequent nation-wide lockdown. India saw its economic growth hitting a 11-year low of 4.2% for FY20, even as the auto industry sales fell 18%, negatively impacting the entire tyre industry which declined by 8% in terms of total tyres manufactured.

As you leaf through the pages of the year’s annual report, you will read the actions we took during the year and the initiatives we will take during the year to adapt to the new normal. I would like to talk about our value - ‘Care for Society’, which is close to my heart even as our outreach to our communities continued unabated during the year. The financial year saw a unique first of its kind corporate partnership with tyre major, Ashok Leyland, to provide healthcare facilities to the trucking community in Namakkal, a prominent transhipment hub in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu.

We continued to support our communities and stakeholders across multiple states of India. A few initiatives taken during this period to mitigate the distress of the broader community included creating awareness through various ways including hoardings and pamphlets in multiple languages as we reached out to over a million people under this initiative. Our team provided cooked food and 15-day ration support of essential supplies such as ration support and hygiene kits for families.

Nevertheless, the uncertainty will continue, as I do not see an early end of this New Normal. Yet the show must go on and we are already adapting and finding opportunities for growth. Our primary focus in the new normal has been the safety of our employees even as we continue to make the new normal our normal. It is heartening to inform that the new normal has seen us doing virtual inaugurations of our seventh manufacturing plant in Andhra Pradesh, India in June 2020 and followed by the facility to manufacture high-end bias and steel radial tyres for the two-wheeler segment in Limda, Gujarat, India in July 2020.

I take this opportunity to thank all the banks, financial institutions, various Indian State Governments and the Central Governments of India, The Netherlands and Hungary, our network and business partners for their unstinted support and actively contributing to our success. Equally, I am humbled with your continued support and grateful for standing with us in times of prosperity and adversities. We at Apollo Tyres remain ever committed and sincere in our efforts to keep delivering ever better value to you. I look forward to having many more exciting updates for you in the current financial year.

Wishing you all the best.

A virus has taken us all hostage and has changed the way we live our lives and do our work. I hope that each one of you and your family members are safe and continue to adhere to the respective government’s guidelines and are taking all necessary precautions.

It has always been our aim to deliver top financial performance build on transparency and high level of corporate governance as we sustain the long-term profitable growth of the company. In line with this philosophy, we were delighted to have Warburg Pincus, a leading global private equity firm, on board Apollo Tyres with an approximately $150 million investment in the company. Warburg’s investment is a strong vote of confidence in our business, management team and growth prospects. Further, I believe that this partnership will further strengthen Apollo Tyres’ board and governance.

While the year at large was a slow year for the auto and the tyre industry, at Apollo Tyres, life was at full steam as we continued to race ahead to achieve our long term vision – “To be a premier tyre company with a diversified and multinational presence”. During the year, we continued to do what we do best – launch new products for a better product mix, seed new markets, expand distribution network and focus on cost and process efficiencies.

The year saw us further sharpening our focus on the SUV segment in India to take us to pole position. We launched the all-terrain SUV tyres, Apollo Apterra AT2, for the Off-road enthusiasts. The tyre complemented our existing Apterra range including specialised Highway Luxury, Highway Terrain, High Performance and the All Terrain tyres furthering our product portfolio for the segment. Looking at the growing demand for the pick-up trucks in India, we introduced Endumaxx brand of tyres for the segment. The confidence about the success of the product comes from the fact that the tyres were designed and developed at our Global R&D Centre, Asia in Chennai to suit the application and terrain requirements and tested extensively for more than a year before being introduced.

The year also saw us entering the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia with a careful long-term market entry strategy. After extensively studying the market for the past few years, we have developed products suited to cater to the Saudi market, which is the largest and important replacement tyre market in the Middle East region. Further, we expanded our product portfolio across various range in India, Europe, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the ASEAN region.

In Europe, we continued to add to our OEM portfolio as we became the preferred choice for the iconic Volkswagen Golf with our Sportrac 5, Wintrac Pro and the Snowtrac 5 tyres. The definitive recognition of quality continued from Volkswagen and top car manufacturers such as Ford and Seat during the year. Another feather in cap for our European operations was the recognition given by leading auto magazine Auto Bild which recognized it as the ‘All-Season Manufacturer of the Year’, a testimony to our expertise in crafting high technology All-Season premium tyres. Our tyres continued to be recognized as top performers across Europe and North America. Given the recent focus on the North American market, it was indeed heartening to see Tire Rack Inc ranking our Vredestein Quatrac Pro as the top grand touring all-season tyre, even as the prestigious Consumer Reports named the Vredestein Wintrac Pro as the top performance winter tyre.

Apollo Tyres has been focusing on brand building as one of its key pillars to race ahead of competition. During the year, we did a 360 degree release of the highly loved and watched ‘Ganga’ TV commercial with cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar and legendary Indian music director, composer, musician and singer, A R Rahman. Further, we launched the United We Play programme to encourage young football talent from across India.

Looking ahead at FY21, we are aware that the COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown will have serious implications on business. It has been a difficult few months for us - from having to temporarily close our plants and make difficult decisions on cost-cutting across the board. However, it is in the Apollo Tyres DNA to look at challenges as opportunities and we have already launched multiple initiatives under the DRIVE leadership theme… to re-engineer Apollo Tyres. We are learning from the pandemic experience and will make this our new normal as we energize the entire company to achieve higher productivity.

I see the relentless pace continue for each one at Apollo Tyres in FY21. I will continue to update you on a periodic basis on the various initiatives and our learning.

The Company remains the preferred partner for global and Indian original equipment auto players, catering to more than 100 countries worldwide. With its corporate headquarter in Gurgaon, Apollo Tyres has multiple manufacturing units in India, the Netherlands and Hungary.

The extensive operations, backed by a global workforce of approximately 17,200 employees, deliver a turnover of US$ 2.27 Bn. The Company markets its products under two international brands – Apollo and Vredestein – that are available across the world through a vast network of branded, exclusive and multi-product outlets.

Vision

To be a premium tyre company with a diversified and multinational presence.