India's MRL opens office in US amid growing farm, OTR business

Panama City, Panama — India's MRL Tyres Ltd. has opened a sales office in Dallas to coordinate the firm's growing farm, OTR and industrial tire business in the US.

Monit Malhotra, director of the firm formerly known as Malhotra Rubbers Ltd., said the new office would become the US importer of record for tires from the company's factory in New Delhi, India, thus relieving its US distributors of that responsibility.

The office has just two employees for now, Malhotra told ERJ sister publication Tire Business in a conversation at the Latin American & Caribbean Tyre Expo in Panama City, but MRL hopes to add more soon.

MRL expects to add warehousing in Dallas to help complement the firm's normal business practice of shipping container-loads directly to customers.

MRL is planning to set up a series of regional wholesale distributors for which it will establish protected territories, Mr. Malhotra said.

Opening the Dallas office coincides with a growing portfolio of products, the MRL executive said, which now includes radial farm tires up to 49 inches in rim diameter. The firm's portfolio covers more than 1,700 SKUs, he added.

The office will focus on the US market for the time being. Distribution in Canada could follow eventually, he noted.

MRL has been building business in the US for the past four to five years.

Mr. Malhotra said MRL's presence at the Latin American Expo reflects its measurable and growing sales presence in the region.