Indian Synthetic Rubber (ISRL) has received a US$111mn loan co-financed by Japanese export credit agency JBIC and Mizuho Corporate Bank, to promote rubber exports from Japan.

The loan will be used for the construction of manufacturing facilities in the state of Haryana, north east India.
JBIC’s tranche amounts to US$66.6mn, and the agency says the growing number of car sales in India has created a need for local procurement of automobile parts, but that the country is lacking raw material resources to produce tyres.

“The industry in India is currently dependent on imports from overseas for emulsion styrene-butadiene rubbers (E-SBR) used as main raw material for automobile tyres. This business project is the first E-SBR manufacturing and sales project in India and this loan is intended to support Marubeni’s chemical product and automobile-related business in India as well,” the Japanese ECA adds.

ISRL, a joint venture between the Japanese Marubeni Corporation, the government-affiliated Indian Oil Corporation and Taiwanese rubber manufacturer TSRC Corporation, produces synthetic rubber destined to the car tyre market.