Bajaj to pull up socks in UP for its three-wheelers

Bajaj Auto Ltd (BAL), the world's largest three-wheeler manufacturer with an annual sale of around 330,000 three-wheelers, is set to pull up its socks to carve out a niche in the three-wheeler market of Uttar Pradesh and has even urged the government to play an active role in it.

"We want the government to dilute the intra-city transportation rules, which in turn will encourage the customers to go for more of three-wheelers in the state," Abhay Kumar Sharma, area manager (UP & Uttarakhand), told Business Standard.

Sharma along with Krishna V Iyer, senior manager (three-wheeler network development and institutional sales), were present in the city for the launch of new GC Max, the company's latest goods carrying three-wheeler.

"It is disappointing to know that three-wheelers can not go from Lucknow to Barabanki, which is only 26 km, as the travel permit limit is only 16 km. The government should increase this limit to at least 40 km," Sharma said.

About 3,000 three-wheelers are sold in Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand every month, out of which Bajaj sell 813 vehicles. On the other hand this number is 9,000 and 12,000 per month in Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, respectively.

"There finance is easily available. SC/ST Corporation and backward classes corporation are the channels through which the lower strata, which are the major customers for three-wheeler goods vehicle, can arrange for funds. Though such schemes are present in UP, they have not yielded the desired results. The state government should therefore come forward to get the things organised," added Sharma.

Moreover, the company wants the District Rozgar Kendras to step in and help the unemployed youth arrange funds.

"This is the largest segment for employment generation as it employs two people at a time, the owner of the vehicle and the driver," informed Sharma.

For the last two years, the growth rate for goods vehicle has been 28 per cent, while that of the entire three-wheeler segment has been 65 per cent, for UP and Uttarakhand region.

The company is out to display their "rural demo vans" which will travel to rural areas, disseminating information about the new product and finance schemes.

The new vehicle has been launched in CNG, petrol and diesel variants and is available in the price range of Rs. 1.17-1.47 Lakhs.

"We hope to sell about 1,000 vehicles per month, 100 diesel and 50 CNG goods carrier and the rest passenger vehicles," said Sharma.

Currently, CNG is available in five major cities of the state, Ghaziabad, Noida, Agra, Kanpur and Lucknow, while cities like Bareily, Allahabad and Varanasi are to follow.