MRF (company)

Madras Rubber Factory Limited,

commonly known by the abbreviation
MRF, is an Indian multinational and the
largest manufacturer of tyres in India[1]
and the fourteenth largest manufacturer in
the world.[2] It is headquartered in Chennai,
India.[3] The company manufactures
rubber products including tyres, treads,
tubes and conveyor belts, paints and
toys.[4] MRF also runs the MRF Pace
Foundation, Chennai and MRF Challenge in
motorsport.
Madras Rubber Factory limited

Type Public

Traded as BSE: 500290
NSE: MRF
ISIN INE883A01011

Industry Tyres
Rubber products
Founded Tiruvottiyur, Madras,
Tamil Nadu, India
(1946)
Founder K. M. Mammen
Mappillai
Headquarters Chennai, Tamilnadu,
India
Key people Late K.M.Mammen
(Chairman & MD)
Products Tyres
Toys
 Sports equipment
Conveyor belt
Paints
Coats
Revenue ₹22,683.87 crore
(US$3.2 billion) (2017)
Operating income ₹18,482.15 crore
(US$2.6 billion) (2017)
Net income ₹802.21 crore
(US$110 million) (2017)
Total assets ₹9,978.98 crore
(US$1.4 billion) (2017)
Total equity ₹5,675.72 crore
(US$790 million) (2017)
Number of employees 16,194 (2017)

Website www.mrftyres.com

History
Madras Rubber Factory was started by K.
M. Mammen Mappillai as a toy balloon
manufacturing unit in 1946 at Tiruvottiyur,
Madras (now Chennai). In 1952, the
company ventured into the manufacture of
tread rubber.[3] Madras Rubber Factory
limited was incorporated as a private
company in November 1960 and ventured
into manufacture of tyres in partnership
with Mansfield Tire & Rubber company
based in Ohio, United States.[1] The
company went public on 1 April 1961 and
an office was established in Beirut,
Lebanon to develop the export market in
1964 and its current logo of the
muscleman was born.[1] In 1967, it
became the first Indian company to export
tyres to USA.[5]

In 1973, MRF started manufacturing Nylon

tyres for the first time. The Company
entered into with a technical know-how
collaboration with B.FGoodrich in 1978.[6]
The Mansfield Tire & Rubber Co sold out
its share in 1979 and the name of the
company was changed to MRF Ltd in the
year. The company finalized a technical
collaboration agreement with Marangoni
TRS SPA, Italy for the manufacture of pre-
cured tread rubber for retreading industry.
MRF tyres supplied tyres to Maruti 800,
India's first modern small car.[1] In 1989,
the company collaborated with Hasbro
International United States, the world's
largest toy maker and launched Funskool
India. Also, they entered into a pact with
Vapocure of Australia to manufacture
polyurethane paint formulations and with
Italian tyre manufacturer Pirelli for
conveyor and elevator belt manufacture.[6]
During the year 2004-05, the product range
of the company expanded with Go-kart &
rally tyres and tyres for two/three
wheelers.

Products
Tyres tyre manufactures various tyres
for passenger cars, two–wheelers,
trucks, buses, tractors, light commercial
vehicles and off–the–road tyres.[4] The
major products include MRF Nylogrip for
bikes, MRF ZVTs and MRF Wanderers
for cars and SUVs, MRF Meteor all
terrain tyres, MRF Steel Muscle for
trucks and buses.[6]
Conveyor Belting – manufactures its in-
house brand of Muscleflex conveyor
belts.[6]
Pretreads – MRF has the most
advanced pre-cured retreading system
in India. MRF forayed into retreading in
 1970 and manufactures pretreads for
tyres.[6]
Paints - manufactures polyurethane
paint formulations and coats used in
automotive, decorative and industrial
applications.[4]
Cricket - MRF manufactures cricket bats,
gloves, pads and other accessories.

Manufacturing facilities
The company has manufacturing facilities
for tyres at Kottayam in Kerala, Puduchery,
Arakonam, Goa and trichy two plants in
Perambalur in Tamil Nadu, Medak and
ankenpally in Telangana has two facilities
one recently opened.[6] The company
manufactures toys at its facility in Goa.
The paints and coats are manufactured at
two facilities in Chennai, Tamil Nadu.[7]

Funskool
Funskool India was established in 1987 in
collaboration with Hasbro toys, USA.
Funskool manufactures and markets toys,
board games among others. It has a
manufacturing facility in Goa, India. The
company has manufacturing licenses for
toys and games from Disney, Warner
Brothers, Rummikub, Dora and Funskool
also has partnerships with renowned toy
brands Hasbro, Lego, Hornby,
Ravensburger, Tomy Toys, Leap Frog, Siku,
Jumbo and New Bright for manufacture
and marketing in India.[8]

Motorsports
MRF Racing

MRF built its first Formula 3 car in 1997.[9]

MRF in collaboration with Maruti
established the Formula Maruti racing, a
single-seater, open wheel class motorsport
racing event for race cars made in India.[1]
MRF Challenge is a Formula 2000 open-
wheel motorsport formula based series
organized by Madras Motor Sports Club in
association with MRF. The latest season
consisted of races organized at Madras
Motor Racing Track, Chennai, Bahrain
International Circuit, Losail International
Circuit, Doha and Buddh International
Circuit, Noida. Freddie Hunt, son of 1976
Formula One champion James Hunt and
Mathias Lauda, son of 1975, 1977 and
1984 Formula One champion Niki Lauda
both competed in the series.[10] MRF has
sponsored Indian racing drivers including
Narain Karthikeyan, Karun Chandok,
Ashwin Sundar, N. Leelakrishnan and Raj
Bharath.

MRF rally team

MRF have also been a long-running
sponsor of an MRF rally team participating
in the Asia-Pacific Rally Championship and
Indian National Rally Championship.
Associating with Czech car manufacturer
Škoda, MRF Skoda is the three time
reigning champion in the Asia-Pacific Rally
Championship with Chris Atkinson winning
in 2012, Gaurav Gill in 2013 and Jan
Kopecký in 2014.[11] MRF also participates
in Raid De Himalaya, the world's highest
rally.[12]

MRF Motocross
MRF promotes a national motocross
championship, a form of all-terrain two
wheeler racing held on enclosed off-road
circuits annually across several cities.[9]

MRF Karting

MRF sponsors major karting

championships in India. MRF is the first
Indian tyre company to develop FIA
approved karting tyres.[9])

Cricket
MRF Pace Foundation
MRF Pace Foundation is a coaching clinic
for training fast bowlers established by
MRF with the help of former Australian
pace spearhead Dennis Lillee in Chennai,
India. Through this program, young
aspiring fast bowlers are trained in a
special facility. Fast bowlers who trained
with foundation and went on to represent
the Indian Cricket Team include Javagal
Srinath, Irfan Pathan, Munaf Patel,
Venkatesh Prasad, R. P. Singh, Zaheer
Khan and S Sreesanth. Besides Indian
players, foreign players like Chaminda
Vaas, Henry Olonga, Heath Streak and
Australian fast bowlers Glenn McGrath,
Mitchell Johnson and Brett Lee have also
trained at the foundation. Sachin
Tendulkar in his early days trained in the
MRF Pace Foundation to become a fast
bowler. Glenn McGrath was appointed
director of the Foundation on 2 September
2012, replacing Dennis Lillee, who has held
the post since its inception in 1987.[13]

Endorsement

MRF had been the bat sponsor for many

cricketers of the game. Sachin Tendulkar,
Brian Lara and Steve Waugh have
endorsed MRF products.[14] MRF has also
sponsored Indian batsmen Rohit
Sharma,[15] Gautam Gambhir and Sanju
Samson. Currently MRF is endorsed by
star batsmen Shikhar Dhawan, Virat
Kohli[16] and AB de Villiers.[17]

Previous endorsements

Sachin Tendulkar – Genius

Brian Lara – Wizard, Wizard 400
Steve Waugh – Conqueror
Rohit Sharma – Genius
Gautam Gambhir – Genius
Sanju Samson – Wizard

Current endorsements
 Shikhar Dhawan – Genius SD 25 /
Unique SD
Virat Kohli – Genius VK 18
AB de Villiers – Genius ABD 25
Prithvi Shaw – Emerging Star

Sponsorship

At IPL 2010, MRF sponsored moored

balloons floating above the cricket
grounds with a high-definition camera
recording live actions of the cricket match.
MRF joined as a global partner of
International Cricket Council for 2015
Cricket World Cup.[18] In 2017, MRF
became the sleeve sponser for the
Premier League clubs Newcastle
United,[19] West Ham United F.C.[20] and
official tyre partner for West Bromwich
Albion.

Awards and recognition

MRF won the JD Power Award for the
record 11th time in 2014.[21] The company
has won several awards and accolades
including the All India Rubber Industries
Association's (AIRIA) award for 'Highest
Export Awards (Auto Tyre Sector)', 'Top
Export Award' from Chemicals & Allied
Products Export Promotion Council
(CAPEXIL) for 2009–10. In 2014, MRF was
ranked 48th among India's most trusted
brands according to the Brand Trust
Report, a study conducted by Trust
Research Advisory.[22]

References
1. "MRF Limited" . NDTV. 14 February 2015.
2. "MRF Limited" (PDF). GB Grooth. 14
February 2015. Archived from the original
(PDF) on 16 September 2017.

3. "MRF:Overview" . 14 February 2015.

4. "Company Profile:MRF" . Reuters. 14
February 2015.
5. "Time line and milestones : MRF tyres
1946-1970" . MRF Tyres website. MRF
Tyres. Retrieved 12 August 2015.
6. "Company background: MRF" . 14
February 2015.
7. "MRF Paints and Coats" .
8. "Funskool India" . 14 February 2015.
9. "MRF Sports" .
10. Simmons, Marcus (15 July 2014). "The
sons of James Hunt and Niki Lauda to race
in MRF series" . Autosport. Haymarket
Publications. Retrieved 15 August 2014.
11. "Kopecky wins WRC for MRF" .
rally.com. Archived from the original on 29
November 2014.
12. "Raid de Himalaya 2009 from October 5,
2009" . North India Times. 2 September
2009. Archived from the original on 1
January 2010. Retrieved 30 March 2010.
13. "McGrath takes charge of MRF Pace
Foundation" . Espncricinfo.
14. "Sachin's innings with MRF ends" . The
Hindu.
15. "Even I am guilty of getting carried away
but Sachin has stayed grounded" . Indian
Express.
16. "Virat Kohli earns Rs 8 crore for MRF ad
on his bat, rakes in Rs 2 crore more than MS
Dhoni" .
17. "AB de Villiers named brand
ambassador of MRF" .
18. "MRF becomes global partner for ICC" .
Zigwheels.
19. "MRF named shirt sleeve sponsor" .
Newcastle United Football Club. Retrieved
2018-03-29.
20. "MRF announced as West Ham United's
first ever shirt sleeve sponsor" . West Halm
Football Club. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
21. "MRF gets JD Power award for 10th
time" . Times of India.
22. "India's Most Trusted Brands" . Archived
from the original on 2 May 2015.

External links
MRF Tyres
Retrieved from
"https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?
title=MRF_(company)&oldid=862150891"

Last edited 7 days ago by CLCStudent

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