Amara Raja eyes 25% pie in OE segment

Signs original equipment pact with Hyundai Motor

Amara Raja Batteries expects to increase its market share to 25 per cent from the present 18 per cent (1.6 million batteries) in original equipment (OE) of the automotive batteries segment with its recent tie-ups with Hyundai Motor India and Maruti Udyog Ltd.

Addressing a press conference, Jay Galla, managing director, Amara Raja Batteries, said the while there is a pressure on margins in supplying for the OE segments, the volumes have increased.

With the surge in growth in the four-wheeler segment, we plan to expand to three million units capacity as soon as possible for which we expect to get the approval from our partner Johnson Controls, he added. Wisconsin-based Johnson Controls has a 26 per cent stake in Amara Raja Batteries Ltd.

The company is in the process of scaling up its Tirupati plant to 2.4 million units annually from 1.5 million units at an investment of Rs 38.8 crore, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The company has entered into an original equipment agreement for the first time with Hyundai Motor India and expects to supply 60,000 Amaron range of batteries over the next 12 months. It had also entered into an exclusive agreement with Maruti for its latest launch Swift, two weeks ago.

"We will expand the network of Amara Raja PitStops to 100 during the current year from the 60 pitstops at present," he added.

Amara Raja has ongoing OE agreements with Ashok Leyland, Fiat, General Motors, Hindustan Motors and Honda. The company is an exclusive supplier to Daimler Chrysler, Ford and Swaraj Mazda.