‘Well styled products, astute pricing have raised Bajaj’s share in bikes market by 3%’

Bajaj Auto’s market share in motorcycles is on a northward trajectory, according to the company’s Chairman Rahul Bajaj.

“First — and this pleases me no end — with a combination of well styled, appealing products and astute pricing, Bajaj Auto has begun to grow its domestic market share in motorcycles. In the course of a single year, FY19, the company succeeded in increasing its domestic sale of motorcycles by almost 29 per cent, and, in the process, grew its market share by 3 percentage points to 18.7 per cent. In fact, for March 2019, the market share exceeded 20 per cent,” he said in the company’s latest annual report.

“We are seeing the beginning of a trend that will continue to increase Bajaj Auto’s share of motorcycles in the domestic market and, in doing so, take Bajaj Auto to a place that behoves its presence,” he added.

Bajaj said that in FY19, the company exported more than 2 million motorcycles, three-wheelers plus its new quadricycle, the Qute, to 79 countries. This is a landmark achievement and represents a growth of 25 per cent over the previous year, he added.

The company has grown to become India’s No 1 motorcycle exporter — with two out of three bikes carrying a Bajaj badge, he pointed out.

Leading exporter

“Over 40 per cent of our revenues now come from international markets,” observed Bajaj.

He further said the company’s global sales have earned over $13 billion of foreign exchange over the past decade. And, in FY19, Bajaj Auto achieved two prominent milestones — total sales of 5 million units, of which 2 million were international sales — said the Chairman.

The company’s performance in the three-wheeler space was impressive, said Bajaj.

In FY19, its overall three-wheeler sales grew more than 22 per cent to reach an all-time high. Much of this growth was driven by an impressive 43 per cent growth in exports, he observed.

Bajaj Auto accounted for almost 57 per cent of total three-wheeler sales in India, and two-thirds of total sales to the export markets.

BS VI readiness

“As far as Bajaj Auto is concerned, each of our motorcycles, three-wheelers and quadricycles will be fully BS-VI compliant not just on 1 April, 2020, but some months earlier,” said the report.

“We expect the domestic market to get more competitive across the various segments. The days when a manufacturer could claim a quasi-monopolistic presence in one or more segment is rapidly coming to an end. Given the operational nimbleness that we have demonstrated over the last couple of years, and armed with a surplus of over ₹16,000 crore, we at Bajaj Auto have the strength to deal with such competition,” it added.