Car rental firm Avis India plans to invest Rs 200 crore over the next 12-18 months to take its fleet size to over 5,000 units by March 2016.
The company, which is a joint venture between the Avis Budget Group Inc and The Oberoi Group, currently has a fleet of 2,800 cars which serve two broad segments - renting car for short durations and long-term operating lease to corporates.
"We are growing at around 28-30 per cent year on year. To cater to the increasing demand, we plan to invest around Rs 200 crore in the next 12-18 months to take the fleet size to around 5,000 units," Avis India CEO Sunil Gupta told PTI.
The company, which currently has presence across 19 cities, plans to add 700 cars in the car rental segment and another 1,500 units in the long term lease segment.
Besides, the Delhi-based firm is also looking to expand base in the tier-II cities for its car rental business, which it thinks would bring in next level of growth for the company.
"We have established a huge network across the country. Currently, we have 42 offices across 19 cities. This year we have already opened offices at various tier-II cities like Chandigarh and Ahmedabad. We are now looking at places like Ludhiana, Surat and Thiruvananthapuram," Gupta said.
Avis India, which expects to clock USD 50 million (around Rs 300 crore) in revenues this fiscal, also plans to keep adding 5-6 locations in its network per year, he added.
When asked about the new verticals that interests the company, Gupta said: "Self drive vertical, where a person can hire a car on a per day rental basis, will see a surge with road improvement in road infrastructure, as well as expansion of technology like GPRS. We expect this segment doing well," Gupta said.
