Washington, DC:

IFC () is providing a US $35-million loan to Apollo, of which $20 million is for IFC’s own account and the remaining $15 million for the account of participating banks. This financing will support the company’s $51-million investment plan over the next two years to help establish a truck radial tire manufacturing facility at Vadodara in Gujarat and debottleneck and balance operations to increase capacity utilisation at its Perambra and Kalamassery plants, near Kochi in Kerala. This project will help Apollo introduce the next generation of tires for trucks and buses in India, which would eventually lead to a safer and more fuel-efficient road transport.

Says Apollo Tyres chairman Onkar Singh Kanwar: “We at Apollo Tyres are proud to be the first Indian tyre manufacturer to receive IFC’s direct support. This is a testament to our pioneering efforts in introducing state-of-the-art radial technology in the truck tyre segment. With this long-term partnership with IFC, we hope to further our existing international standards in corporate governance, best environment practices and corporate social responsibility.”

Says IFC director for South Asia Dimitris Tsitsiragos: “We appreciate Apollo’s leadership position in the Indian tyre market and support their initiative to provide better quality products to customers. IFC has worked with Apollo Tyres to help them benchmark against global best practices in corporate governance, social and environmental responsibility. This project demonstrates our commitment to support Indian companies that are upgrading technology and modernising to become internationally competitive.”

The mission of IFC is to promote sustainable private sector investment in developing countries, helping to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances private sector investments in the developing world, mobilises capital in the international financial markets, and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses.

Since its founding in 1956 through FY 2002, IFC has committed more than $34 billion of its own funds and arranged $21 billion in syndications for 2,825 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s worldwide committed portfolio as of FY02 was $15.1 billion for its own account and $6.5 billion held for participants in loan syndications.