In new markets, wherever the company has started seeding the three-wheelers, they are coming in nicely, said S Ravikumar, president- business development, Bajaj Auto.
“I would say 165,000 in total for exports split as something like 30,000 units coming from three-wheelers and the balance coming from motorcycles, that is the visibility that we see for the next couple of months at least,” Ravikumar told CNBC-TV18.
Edited Excerpts:
Sonia: Can you explain about the exports because last month you said that 26,000 units were in transit and they will get reflected in this month and that is what has happened. So, can you give us a sustainable run rate as far as exports are concerned and what is the trend looking like?
A part of this 26,000 has certainly come into this month and some of it will also come in May. If you even strip off the spill over effect, I think we are good for something like 1,65,000 units per month at least for the first three months. Many markets have been doing quite good and as you pointed out the three wheeler numbers in exports have done very well all of Africa, all of Asean and Asia is also doing quite okay barring Sri Lanka.
Latha: 165,000 you said on an average run rate for exports?
Yes, that is the rate which we will be able to maintain for the first three months.
Latha: In domestic, will you be able to do 230,000 a month or is that also a one off?
This quarter we are playing out on three strong areas — products, communications and also strong dealer management. If all the three work out very well, then 200,000 plus on an average per month for the current quarter is certainly visible.
However, there are some caveats. For example, April had the benefit of the marriage season, they are tapering off and I am told that in June again there is a spell of marriage dates in the North. So, we are hoping that on the back of these three actions 200,000 plus on domestic motorcycles should be there. Three-wheelers as you mentioned, about 30,000-35,000 units per month should sustain in domestic for the next three months as well. So, your 235,000 two- and three-wheelers put together should be very much there.
Anuj: What is leading to this kind of sales growth in three-wheelers? Which are the main markets there?
A: When you are talking about exports, African countries have started doing very well — Nigeria, Ethiopia and other countries. In the south Asian and Asian region we have markets such as Philippines and Bangladesh is doing well. Egypt is holding on very nicely. So, these are the main points.
In new markets, wherever, we have started seeding the three-wheelers, they are coming in nicely. So, this type of run rate, I would say 165,000 in total for exports split as something like 30,000 units coming from three-wheelers and the balance coming from motorcycles, that is the visibility that we see for the next couple of months at least.
Sonia: Within the domestic market, you did mention 2 lakh units per month, but what is demand trajectory looking like? Last time, your team indicated that retail sales are not as good as expected, so over the next 2-3 months how do you see demand, competition?
The marriage markets have done well for the current month and that is why retail has been good in the North. We also had some good product introduction — the Pulsar 150 being replaced by Pulsar Twin-Disc 150, which worked well. The Pulsar 160 is also sitting well.
So, overall this 2 lakh plus type of number subject to those caveats. For example, April and May used to be good marriage months, this time the marriage season is tapering off a bit but then picking up again in June.
So if one were to look at a period of three months, the domestic should hold because we are doing lot of action on the dealer front, on product front and in communication area in this quarter.
If everything goes well, this quarter should be the best of the quarter for both topline and bottomline.
That said, with caveat that all this things should fall in place and work well for us. This first month has been good bang start for the year.
Sonia: On product front what are you doing, because a lot of disappointment has come in as far as Avenger is concerned? The Street 150 was discontinued in India, lot of models in Pulsar category were also discontinued. So, are you looking at new branding? Or are you looking at just refurbishing the old products?
We have been strong in the entry level segment where CT and Platina are doing well and on higher end we are strong with Pulsar. Markets have taken to Pulsar Twin-Disc nicely, we used to have around 43% market share and now we are garnering more market share.
CT and Platina are holding well because in the first quarter, in marriage months that end of market is interesting.
We are also getting our act right in the mid-segment in V and Discovers that is chipping in the numbers.
The new Avengers have been well received and they are going up to about 11,000 units a month. The Cruise 220 has hit off nicely in market. But if we were to restrict ourselves to this quarter then the main numbers will come from CT and Platina in lower end and from Pulsar range in the top end.
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