Bajaj Auto, India’s second largest two wheeler manufacturer, marked a growth of 9 per cent in the month of March 2012 in the domestic market. According to reports released on 3rd April 2012, the manufacturer sold 3,35,515 vehicles in March 2012. This was much higher than the sales figure of 3,07,741 units that the company recorded in the corresponding period in 2011. However, the sales volumes were slightly less in the context of market forecast as the company was expected to cross the 3,50,000 mark.
The company marked an increase of 10 per cent amounting to 3,00,848 units in motorcycle sales, which were the highest ever for a month. This figure was in comparison with the 2,74,392 units it sold in the same period last year. The overall exports of Bajaj Auto witnessed a growth of 54 per cent at 1,07,691 vehicles for March 2012, as against 69,884 vehicles in the same month last year. The exports of two wheelers for the company also took a positive stand with growth of 31 per cent during this financial year. Moreover, the sales in three-wheeler segment also expanded by four per cent, amounting to a total of 34,667 vehicles up from 33,349 vehicles of last year.
In FY 2011-12, Bajaj Auto reported growth of 14 per cent, with sales figures of 43.4 lacs units against 38.2 lakh units of the previous fiscal. However, the company still was not able to achieve its target of 44 lacs units despite this rise in sales. Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto, said that the year went fairly well for the company on the grounds of sales volumes. He further added, “Qualitatively, through the year, we have witnessed a softening of demand, with Q4 being the softest which we are not happy about.”
On the other hand, the company is also witnessing several issues because of the hike in import duty in Sri Lanka. Therefore, Bajaj Auto has decided to increase the cost of vehicles, which will surely affect its overall sales. In spite of this, the manufacturer has not made any modifications in its sales objective for Sri Lanka for the whole financial year.
Regarding this, Bajaj commented, “After two-three months, we don’t expect it to impact us as two-three wheelers is almost like a basic necessity. Also, there have been many such occurrences over the past year across the world in Egypt, Nigeria, etc. But, markets do settle.”
Although the automobile sector is going through a slump, the company still aims to achieve the 5 million mark in terms of total sales in the next fiscal. According to Bajaj, the company has enough scope for growth in the auto industry since its only has a 25 per cent share in the domestic market and has come up with a new variant of Pulsar. He further added, “There are still so many markets that we have not touched overseas, or that we might have just entered; they represent a good opportunity for growth.”
The shares of Bajaj Auto marked a downfall by 0.35 per cent on the Bombay Stock Exchange on 3rd April, 2012. However during the last year, its share price has grown by 12.44 per cent, outpacing the auto index of BSE, which has shown growth of 6.3 per cent during the same period. On 3rd April 2012, the company exhibited growth of 2.7 per cent on BSE Sensex and closed at 17,597 points.
