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G.R.N. Somashekar

Buses lined up for the the Bus and Special Vehicles Expo 2009 at the Bangalore International Exhibition Centre on Tumkur Road in Bangalore on Wednesday. —

Our Bureau

Bangalore, March 11 The country’s top two domestic bus makers – Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland – expect between 10 per cent and 15 per cent growth next fiscal thanks to the Centre’s recently announced stimulus package.

In separate press conferences on the eve of the first international exhibition and conference on bus and special vehicles here, both the bus makers, who control a majority of the market share for public transport in the country, said the incentive scheme for the automobile sector under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission should lead to more orders for them.

Under this scheme, States will get financial assistance (up to June) for buying buses for the urban transport system. This will help generate business of up to Rs 4,000 crore for the automobile industry.

Tata Motors’ head of sales & marketing for buses and semi-commercial vehicles, Mr Sandeep Kumar, said he expects stagnant growth for buses during this fiscal, but the next fiscal could see a growth of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent.

He said Tata Motors has so far sold about 14,000 units of over 12-tonne buses between April 2008 and February 2009. One of its biggest customers, the Delhi Transport Corporation had also awarded the company a contract for 1,650 buses. It has so far sold about 650 buses to the corporation.

Mr Sandeep Kumar said the bus plant in Dharwad in Karnataka had started functioning. The plant makes Marcopolo buses and has a capacity to produce about 15,000 units a year.

Ashok Leyland’s Special Director for sales & marketing, Mr R.N. Rao, said the company expects to register a growth of between 10 per cent and 15 per cent in 2009-10 because of the Centre’s stimulus package as well as an expected reversal of the current downtrend. He said the company expects to sell about 60,000 buses this fiscal, nearly 30 per cent lesser than the previous fiscal.

Ashok Leyland has a capacity to produce over one lakh units of buses and trucks from its five plants. Its sixth plant is coming up in Uttarakhandwith an initial capacity of 25,000 units.

Volvo Buses India Managing Director, Mr Akash Passey, said by 2015, he expects a majority of the buses in India to be in the mid-range and high-end category. “This will expand our market and we expect some competition in this segment from new players,” Mr Passey said.

Mr Passey said in five years, Volvo Buses expects half of its total turnover to come from its soft businesses such as consultancy services which it launched recently, components business as well as Volvo’s music systems which are yet to be launched in the country.

Mercedes-Benz’s General Manager, Mr Ashok Bharadwaj, said its Chakan facility can produce up to 1,200 units a year. He said the company expects to sell about 100 of its 305 BHP buses during this calendar year. The company has a tie up with Sutlej for body building.

Swaraj Mazda’s Chief Manager for Marketing, Mr Ganapathy Lakshmanan, said its inter-city bus, will target the luxury segment. He said the company has sold about seven of these buses.

More Stories on : HCV/LCV/Tractors | Outlook | Tata Motors Ltd

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