Davos 2024: Apollo Tyres Expanded Return On Capital Employed Using AI, Says Vice Chairman

Artificial intelligence has aided Apollo Tyres Ltd. in expanding its return on capital employed by 600 basis points, according to Vice Chairman and Managing Director Neeraj Kanwar.

Apollo Tyres has been using artificial intelligence for the past three years, and has tech innovation hubs in Hyderabad and London, Kanwar told NDTV Profit's Niraj Shah, on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum 2024 in Davos. "We are now on (the) cloud and all our data are (in) real time, and we have seven plants across India and Europe."

All the tyre manufacturer's data is coming from the cloud, and data scientists are analysing it through AI, he said. "In Hungary, we have increased our productivity by nearly 12% just through data mining and understanding."

The tyre manufacturer is focusing less on capex and putting a lot of emphasis on digitalisation and improving the balance sheet ratios, Kanwar said. "ROCE has gone up to 16% from sub-10%, and all thanks to the digital activities we are doing."

Right now, AI is only being used in manufacturing. And, the next step is to employ it in supply chain, sales, and marketing, and understand consumer behaviour, he said. Understanding AI can help in emitting less carbon emission, Kanwar said.

Artificial intelligence is the focus at Davos this year, he said. Talks about AI, machine learning and Gen AI and how they are going to help businesses and economies scale up is the new theme of focus in Davos, Kanwar said.

On the domestic front, India is growing with all states represented well, Kanwar said. The country is seeing huge inflows of funds and there is a lot of excitement about India since other economies are going through inflation, recession, and geopolitical issues, he said.

The government has been proactive and has taken positive steps for the Indian consumer and its infrastructure, which is now playing out, according to him.