New Delhi, Nov. 7: SRF will diversify into the manufacture of polyester industrial yarn used in car radial tyres by investing Rs 186 crore.

The Delhi-based chemicals and industrial textiles firm said it was setting up a facility to manufacture 14,500 tonnes per annum of polyester industrial yarn.

The new plant will produce high modulus low shrinkage polyester industrial yarn used for reinforcement of car radial tyres.

Ashish Bharat Ram, managing director of SRF, said, “SRF is a one-stop shop for reinforcement fabric to tyre companies.”

The company will cover the full spectrum of tyre cords from nylon to polyester.

The company has posted a 16 per cent growth in its net profit after tax in the second quarter of this fiscal.

The net profit for the quarter ended September stood at Rs 69 crore against Rs 59 crore in the corresponding period last year.

SRF’s revenue increased from Rs. 506 crore to Rs. 524 crore, recording a growth of 4% during July-September of the fiscal.

Bharat Ram said “unlike in the past, the profit growth this time has come from a better performance of the Technical Textiles Business. This is extremely heartening to see and we hope the trend will continue in the future.”

SRF is the country’s largest manufacturer of nylon tyre cord fabric (NTCF) and specialised fluoro-chemicals including refrigerants. The company made two overseas acquisitions in the current fiscal augmenting its current lines of technical textile business – Thai Baroda Industries in Thailand that manufactures NTCF and Industex Belting in South Africa that manufactures belting fabrics.