MUMBAI, JANUARY 06, 2022 (GPN): All India Rubber Industries Association (AIRIA) established in 1945, an apex body for rubber industries in India and dedicated to promote its interest, has unanimously elected office bearers for 2021-22 in Annual General Meeting held on 29th December, 2021.

Dr. Sawar Dhanania– President – M/s D.S. Engineers & Consultants, Kolkata

Mr. Shashi Kumar Singh – Sr. Vice-President –M/s Osaka Rubber Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai

Mr. Vipan Mehta – Vice President – M/s M. B. Rubber (P) Ltd., Ghaziabad

Dr. Dhanania will be succeeding Mr. Vikram Makar and will play a key role in leading forward the road map traversed and etched by the last two preceding Presidents of the Association, Mr. V.T. Chandrasekharan (2019-20) and Mr. Vikram Makar (2020-21). There contributions to the Association will always remain valuable and precious. However, as envisioned by the predecessors the work could not be accomplished aggressively due to the ongoing pandemic situation troubling the country and the globe.  Being committed to the industry Dr. Dhanania has been associated with AIRIA since 1993; till date he has been working with AIRIA in different higher positions. It is believed that we could easily place trust on the elected office bearers and his goodself, who would be able to fill in the lacuna and soar the Association and its activities to new heights.

Recently, Dr.Dhanania was the Senior Vice President, AIRIA, Mumbai and is the Chairman of Rubber Board, Kottayam under the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, Government of India. He nurtures avid scholarly interests and thus around 65 years of age in 2017, he completed his five-year Ph.D. program from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur. The famous brand of Cycle Tyre and Tube “Silverline” is founded by him. He is an ardent believer of a cleaner environment and has investments in Renewable Energy. He achieved Gold Medal in the 1st position for Masters in Mechanical Engineering. He is the proprietor of the firm D. S. Engineers & Consultants and Director of the company, Mutual Technologies Pvt. Ltd. established in 1949

Commenting on the occasion Dr. Dhanania said “AIRIA is an esteemed organisation which stood at the helm for 75 years from its establishment, being sincerely committed to stand by the side of the rubber goods manufacturers and the developments for the rubber sector in the country. The call of our Honourable Prime Minister is to realise Atma Nirbhar Bharat, making our nation self-sufficient and sustaining across all the sectors and trades of the country. AIRIA has already faced some major hurdles in the way and also overcame them successfully, but it is felt this is the just time to increase our exports in manifold through focussing on the new products and specific countries with handsome opportunities for exports.

I wish to draw the attention of the industry members such that they may explore the potentials for rubber goods manufacturing activities as well as rubber plantation in the North Eastern part of the country. Industry sources are abuzz with the confirmed proposed investment of Rs. 1000 crore by Automotive Tyre Manufacturer’s Association, ATMA in the North East region for development of two lakh hectares of rubber plantation there. This motivates our member firms and its constituents to unearth all the possibilities there, for improvement of quality and quantity of natural rubber produced, which in course would add to strengthen the entire supply chain. The growers and planters are also likely to obtain their due remunerative share for the produces sold. The Association will also extend its support and work for manifestation of Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav. It is documenting a draft to picture how the manufacturing sector would look like in 25 years in future. By this time the country would be celebrating, its birth centenary and 100 years of Independence, in 2047 and all the MSME units of today will function as a technology equipped and equivalent identity with respect to machineries, new generation materials, testing facilities and enabled with skilled work force. In this regard, my special thanks to Automotive Tyre Manufacture’s Association, ATMA who as a parent body for the tyre manufacturers have already been successful in implementation of the above and are inspiring the young industries to walk on the path of necessary adoption of technology and innovation into their folds.

Our Association will also explore how efficiently the use and plantation of rubber trees will generate more revenue for the growers, inflow foreign exchange for the country and produce furniture through renewable timber replacing the forest timber. It is a new and nascent concept indigenous for this sector. Our hopes are abound that this will lead the way into the future for more production of natural rubber in the country through inspiring the earnest entrepreneurs and planters for replantation through Senile Plantation. Thereby, when the source of raw materials for the industry becomes easy and abundant, it is also expected, that the manufacturing of the end products would thrive exponentially. Furthermore, in the recent past the Association has approached the raw material manufacturers and moved a step ahead for production of critical purpose synthetic rubber, specialty chemicals etc, such that in few years down the line, the industry need not depend upon sourcing of such commodities from outside. By 2047, we wish to witness a sound and prosperous rubber ecosystem. We are confident that the Central Government and the respective State Governments will render all necessary supports for Make in India and Atma Nirbhar Bharat.”

Mr. Shashi Kumar Singh is Director Osaka Rubber (P) Ltd and Director at various Industries Cement & Construction based viz: M/s. Chunar Churk Cement Ltd., Hi-Span Developers (P) Ltd & Shree Salasar Developers (P) Ltd. He served the Association in different capacity such as Vice Chairman -Western Region, Vice President-AIRIA, Chief Convener NRC-WR 2019,Co-Convener NRC 2018, member of core committee of India Rubber Expo- 2019 (IRE) a marque event, socially active in covid 19 activities undertaken by the western region in terms of fund raising and coordinating with NGO, government & semi government institutions, member of Rubber India publication committee and last year he was Vice President AIRIA and Now he will take charge as Sr. Vice President and work in co-ordination with the President to achieve object of the Association using his vast experience in project execution, equipment selection, and modernization. His 20 years of experience in the rubber industry and expertise in production and procurement with technical competence helped him develop many sealants compound as Import substitute.

In past, Mr. Vipan Mehta has served AIRIA as a Chairman- Northern Region, member of core committee of NRC and Vice President – AIRIA. He comes with 28 years of experience in the footwear industry. He is the Founder, Chairman & Managing Director of the Board of M/s M.B. Rubber Private Limited. Shoes and Hawai chhapal is the primary product of the company. He is a renowned name in the footwear rubber industry. His ideology and vision to see the future has taken the company to new heights and his key role at AIRIA as Vice President is to lead, guide, direct and evaluate the decision. Also, formulate and implement strategic plan that guide the direction to all the team. Due to his remarkable social services, he has been nominated as Treasurer of Swami Parmanand Prakrutik Chiktsalaya Yaga Evam Anusandhan Kendra (SPPC).