Best tyre brands in India: the makers and what each suits

There is no single best tyre brand in India. The best brand for you is the one with a well-reviewed range in your car’s size, built for how you drive, sold by a dealer near you, with a warranty you can claim. The tyre brands in India fall into four groups. The big Indian makers, MRF, Apollo, CEAT and JK Tyre, make tyres for almost everything on Indian roads, from scooters and small hatchbacks to SUVs and trucks, and sell them through large dealer networks. Global makers with Indian factories, Bridgestone, Michelin, Goodyear, Continental and Yokohama, build tyres here as well as abroad. Premium brands such as Pirelli and Hankook concentrate on performance, SUV and electric-car ranges. And two-wheeler specialists, TVS Eurogrip and Ralco among them, focus on bikes and scooters. Within every brand the range matters more than the badge: a brand’s budget pattern and its premium pattern can be very different tyres.

The Indian makers

MRF began in 1946 as a toy balloon unit in a shed in Tiruvottiyur, Madras, and released its first tyre from a pilot plant there in 1961. In 1967 it became the first Indian company to export tyres to the United States. Its car line-up runs from everyday hatchback and sedan patterns such as ZVTV and ZLX to the Perfinza luxury range and the Wanderer SUV tyres. MRF’s warranty on passenger car radials runs six years from the month of manufacture. See our MRF brand guide.

Apollo Tyres is headquartered in Gurgaon and sells under two brands worldwide, Apollo and Vredestein. It has seven factories, five of them in India and one each in the Netherlands and Hungary, and its range covers cars, SUVs, light trucks, trucks and buses, two-wheelers and more. See our Apollo brand guide.

CEAT was set up in India in 1958 with its headquarters in Mumbai and is the flagship company of the RPG Group. Its plants include Halol for car and truck radials, Nagpur mainly for two-wheeler tyres, and Chennai, which started making passenger car radials in 2020. CEAT’s car ranges include Milaze for long tread life, SecuraDrive for comfort, SportDrive for premium cars, CrossDrive AT for all-terrain use and EnergyDrive for electric cars. Its passenger car warranty covers manufacturing defects for five years. See our CEAT brand guide.

JK Tyre says it produced India’s first radial tyre in 1977, and today describes itself as the market leader in truck and bus radials. It has nine plants in India and two in Mexico, and makes tyres for cars and SUVs, commercial vehicles, farm and off-road machines, and two- and three-wheelers. See our JK Tyre brand guide.

All four Indian makers are listed on the NSE and BSE, as are Goodyear India and TVS Srichakra, the company behind TVS Eurogrip. Our guide to the tyre companies listed in India gives each one’s exchange and symbol with a short profile.

Global makers with Indian factories

Bridgestone has been in India since 1998 and runs two manufacturing plants here. It sells tyres for everything from passenger cars to heavy vehicles, through a network it puts at more than 3,000 dealers. See our Bridgestone brand guide.

Michelin builds tyres at its Chennai plant. In September 2025 it rolled out its first passenger car tyres made in India there, with the tyres due in the Indian market from the second quarter of 2026, after an investment of nearly ₹686 crore in the plant. The Michelin brand guide lists its ranges, and our Bridgestone vs Michelin comparison sets the two premium makers side by side.

Goodyear dates its Indian operations to 1922 and has two plants, at Ballabgarh and Aurangabad. It supplies tyres to many carmakers in India and describes itself as a pioneer of tubeless radial tyres in the Indian market. See our Goodyear brand guide.

Continental announced in June 2025 that it would focus entirely on passenger car and light truck tyres in India, ending truck and bus radial production at its Modipuram plant in Uttar Pradesh. Its Indian sales operation is based in Faridabad. See our Continental brand guide.

Yokohama set up its Indian sales company in 2007 and began making passenger car tyres at Bahadurgarh in Haryana in 2014, adding plants in 2020 and 2023. It started supplying carmakers directly in 2020. See our Yokohama brand guide.

Premium and specialist brands

Pirelli’s Indian car catalogue is built on three families: P Zero for sports and high-performance cars, Cinturato for lower rolling resistance and everyday comfort, and Scorpion for SUVs and crossovers, including the all-terrain Scorpion ATR. The P Zero E is pitched at high-end electrified cars. See our Pirelli brand guide.

Hankook’s global line-up includes Ventus for passenger cars and SUVs, Kinergy, Dynapro for SUVs and light trucks, and iON for electric vehicles. Which of these patterns reach Indian dealers, and in what sizes, varies, so check with a dealer for your size. Our Hankook brand guide lists the patterns Indian retailers stock.

Two-wheeler specialists

TVS Eurogrip tyres are made by TVS Srichakra, which has been making tyres since 1982. Its range covers motorcycles, scooters and mopeds as well as three-wheelers, farm and industrial tyres, and it lists Bajaj, Hero, Honda and TVS among the motorcycle makers it supplies. See our TVS Eurogrip brand guide.

Ralco is the motor tyre brand of Ludhiana’s Ralson, which calls itself India’s number one bicycle tyre manufacturer and runs two automotive tyre plants, with its automotive tyres exported to more than 50 countries. See our Ralco brand guide.

MRF, Apollo, CEAT and JK Tyre all make two-wheeler tyres too, so a bike owner has a wide choice.

Choosing a brand by how you drive

Every major brand sells more than one kind of tyre. Start from the job, then compare the ranges each brand offers for it in your size.

What you need	What to look for	Example ranges
Long life on a small car	Hard-wearing compound, mileage claims	CEAT Milaze X3, MRF ZVTV
A quiet, comfortable ride	Comfort-tuned tread, noise reduction	CEAT SecuraDrive, MRF ZLX
A premium sedan or performance car	High speed rating, sharp handling	Pirelli P Zero, CEAT SportDrive, MRF Perfinza
An SUV that stays on tarmac	Road-biased SUV pattern	CEAT SecuraDrive SUV, CEAT SportDrive SUV, Pirelli Scorpion Verde
An SUV that leaves the tarmac	All-terrain tread	MRF Wanderer A/T, CEAT CrossDrive AT, Pirelli Scorpion ATR
An electric car	Low rolling resistance, EV-specific ranges	CEAT EnergyDrive EV, Hankook iON

These are examples of what each range is aimed at, not a ranking. Compare the load index and speed rating your car needs, the tyre’s date of manufacture, and the warranty terms before you buy.

What a brand name does not tell you

• The pattern matters more than the brand. Two tyres from the same maker can differ more than two tyres from rival makers aimed at the same job.
• Warranty terms differ. MRF counts its car tyre warranty from the month of manufacture; CEAT counts from manufacture or registration and adds cover for some road damage if you register the tyre. Read the terms for the brand you choose; our tyre warranty guide compares them.
• Fresh stock matters. Whatever the brand, check the date of manufacture on the sidewall before the tyre is fitted.

Our brand index lists every brand we cover, with ranges and indicative prices, and our MRF vs CEAT comparison sets two of the biggest side by side. If you would rather start from the car than the brand, our guide to the best tyres for your car works through it.