Bike makers eye exports to beat domestic blues

Even as motorcycle sales declined dramatically in 2007, two-wheeler makers in the country are aggressively wooing the exports market to beat the slump.

While motorcycle sales declined 9 per cent in 2007, two-wheeler exports have grown by 41.49 per cent to 704,157 units between April-February (2007-08) compared with the comparative period in 2006-07.

Based on the Society of Indian Auto Manufacturers (Siam) data, the No 1 motorcycle exporter in the country "� Bajaj Auto has registered a 62.34 per cent jump in exports to 440,909 units in the 11 month period.

TVS Motor has crossed the 1 lakh-unit mark in exports, growing 39 per cent in the same period. Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India exported 22,788 units, registering a growth of 490.82 per cent on the back of a small base of 3,857 units last year.

Motorcycle manufacturers such as Bajaj Auto are actively scouting new exports market. "With the domestic market down, we have been scouting for newer markets. That has paid dividends and given us volume growth. Apart from catering to the traditional markets such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh, we are seeing strong growth coming from the Central & Latin American markets such as Colombia, Guatemala and Costa Rica. We are doing well in Africa, West Asia and the Philippines," says Ravi Kumar, V-P (business development), Bajaj Auto.

The negative growth in bike sales has affected TVS Motor too. "The current credit crunch has also forced us to target markets abroad, such as Sri Lanka, Latin America, parts of Africa and Asia," says Venu Srinivasan, MD, TVS Motor Company. TVS Motor has a factory in Indonesia which addresses the market in the region and exports to the Latin American markets.

HERO HONDA HAS A DIFFERENT STORY
However, the country's largest mobike manufacturer Hero Honda, with a domestic market share of over 50 per cent, has actually increased its domestic share by growing 2 per cent in 2007 while others slumped.

It posted a 12 per cent decline in exports to 76,013 units for the same period. Its exports to markets across the globe is limited by its tie-up with the Japanese maker which has manufacturing facilities across the world.

"Export is not an area of focus for us, and it contributes less than three per cent to our total sales. It has been a difficult year for the industry, and we have focused on the domestic market. As a result, our motorcycle sales in the domestic market grew by almost two per cent," said a Hero Honda spokesperson.

In 2007-08, the ratio between exports to domestic sales of motorcycles stood at 1: 7, while the ratio was 1:12 in the previous year. For the current year, entry-level bikes (75-125cc) contributed the bulk of the exports (4 lakh units), the deluxe/ executive segment contributed 2.7 lakh units, and the premium segment (2,000 units).

PROFIT MARGIN
Industry observers say the profit margins derived from exporting motorcycles has already been at par with domestic margins due to the appreciation of the rupee around 12 per cent since April 2007.

According to industry observers, while domestic EBITDA margin for the market leader stands around 10-12 per cent, those for the No 2 & 3 players is around 6 per cent.