 "Ashok Leyland draws up Rs 10 billion investment plan for 2018-19")
Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland has chalked out a Rs 10 billion plan for 2018-19 which include setting up of a factory in Andhra Pradesh, a top company official said today.
"Overall capex (capital expenditure) will be Rs 10 billion. The AP factory is not only for buses.It can make trucks also, electric vehicles also. Investments will be Rs 2 billion roughly (there)," Ashok Leyland Managing Director Vinod K Dasari said.
He was speaking to reporters after showcasing a host of products at the Annual Global Conference here.
"This is a journey of innovation that continues. Last year, we launched the world's first EGR based BSIV version vehicles. Everybody said it will not work. But, we sold more than one lakh trucks with EGR last year, plus we sold buses," he said.
Elaborating, he said the company was building innovation and developing new products which include a "41 tonne vehicle equipped with patented lift technology."
Talking about the company's plans, Dasari said, the capital expenditure plan would focus on developing lot of capabilities, developing electric vehicle."
"Capex (capital expenditure) in electric vehicle is about Rs 1 billion. Rs 10 billion is mostly for capability building and little for capacity building," he said.
Referring to the company's light commercial vehicle (LCV) business, he said it did well last year and added that the company would launch vehicles equipped with left hand drive capability to serve newer markets.
"Last year the LCV market grew and we also grew. We also gained market share. LCV business as a whole turned around very beautifully, from a negative margin to a good positive margin business," he said.
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Ashok Leyland would continue to invest and the company would launch LCV equipped with 'left hand drive' that would give access to new overseas markets, he said.
To a query, he said, the company invested Rs 1 billion for electric vehicle business and still lot of issues like type of charging station, type of battery that need to run the vehicles to be developed.
On the company's overseas operation, Dasari said the company grew by 50 per cent last year. They would focus only on those markets that were already present.
About the company's defence business, he said the company clocked revenue of Rs 8 billion last year.
"We have planned to register Rs 50 billion revenue cumulatively over the next five years. Our focus area will be only in mobility. It will be all types of mobility, not just people movement, but also movement of safe bullets, equipment, arms and ammunition," he said.