Amara Raja eyes two-wheeler battery segment

To set up production unit in 12 to 18 months

Amara Raja Batteries Limited (AMBL) is planning to set up a separate battery manufacturing unit for the two-wheeler segment.

"Keeping in mind the huge market potential for two-wheeler batteries, we have decided to set up a manufacturing unit. The size of the investments, production capacity and the location is yet to be finalised," G Indeevar, head (after-market) of AMBL's automotive division, told a press conference here on Friday.

The new battery unit is expected to be set up in the next 12 to 18 months.

"We have a two-million unit capacity manufacturing unit near Tirupati. Though we are manufacturing only 1 million units, we plan to manufacture 1.5 million units from January, 2005," Indeevar said.

The automotive battery market is estimated at 8 million batteries, of which the replacement market would be about 6.5 million. During the last fiscal, Amara Raja's marketshare in the automobile batteries segment was 12 per cent.

The company plans to increase its market share to nearly 18 per cent during the current financial year.

Automotive batteries accounted for 50 per cent of the company's turnover of Rs 199 crore in 2003-04.

"We have recently started supplying batteries to automobile major Maruti Udyog Limited on a trial basis and we are expecting major orders from Maruti," Indeevar said. Amara Raja launched its exclusive retail outlet 'Amaron PitStop' in Visakhapatnam on Friday, taking the number of its exclusive outlets across the country to 43. The company has also launched its new battery product "� Amaron Pro "� in the Andhra Pradesh market.

"We are gradually expanding our exclusive retail chain, Amaron PitStop, across the country. At present, we have 43 such shops including the one at Visakhapatanm. We are planning to set up 15 more exclusive outlets across the country by the end of this fiscal," he said.