Bajaj Auto Eyes Aggressive Growth

Bajaj Auto, the country’s second largest 2 wheeler manufacturer after Hero Motocorp eyes strong growth in the current fiscal year by selling over 4.5 million bikes and 3 wheelers. The largest selling brands are the Pulsar and the Discover which have helped in making sales double over the last 3 years. Till now, the company has already sold over 2.25 million units and so is eyeing a very strong and positive growth by the end of this fiscal. The following months will also see quite a few launches from the Bajaj stable out of which the most expected one is the launch of the KTM Duke200. Bajaj holds 40% of the total stake in KTM and is planning to launch the 200 cc version of its very popular bike, the Duke in India soon. The 125 cc version of the bike has already been launched in few other countries. More than the numbers, the company’s top priority is to keep its focus intact on profits, especially with its EBITDA consistently clocking 20 per cent for sometime now.

“We have strong brands in our portfolio and are reasonably confident that the next three years will see our annual numbers touch 10 million units. Our starting point today is a lot stronger and more potent than what it was three years ago when we were still finding our way around. We have worked very hard on our cost structure over the last two decades and even when (sales) numbers were low, the back-end was pretty much in place. As a result, the needle will not move too much during times of distress. We have ensured that it is not going to be easy to rock the boat of this company,” Mr Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto, said.