French tyre giant Michelin will be relying heavily on promoting road safety in India

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to build brand equity as it undertakes a major expansion programme in the country to become a significant player.

The company, which last week announced an investment of Rs 4,000 crore to set up a bus- and truck-tyre manufacturing plant in Chennai, will be looking to replicate some of the social programmes involving communities it has undertaken in other countries, such as Russia, to make its presence felt.

"India is an extremely important market for us. Building brand equity there is a priority," Michelin Group Managing General Partner Michel Rollier told PTI here.

While delivering the best quality truck and bus tyres will be the top priority, he said, asking local managers to create awareness on road safety will also be equally important.

"Probably, some programmes which involves community, as we are doing in other parts of the world, is a good way to start with (in India)," Rollier said.

For instance, Michelin is supporting programmes on road safety promotion in 15 cities in Russia that involves up to 45,000 school children, he added.

He said promoting road safety in a country like India was a priority as "90 per cent of the world's death in road accidents take place in low income developing countries".