RARING TO GO

New Delhi, Sept. 27: Two-wheeler makers are turning to exports to make up for sagging sales in the home market.

Some of them are even interested in turning their Indian operations into export hubs as some car makers have done.

Yamaha Motor India, which has not performed well here, is eyeing foreign markets. The company is planning to conduct a feasibility study to help double exports by 2010.

“The study will tell us the destinations we should look at to increase our volumes. We will focus on Latin America and Europe,” managing director Tomotaka Ishikawa told The Telegraph.

Yamaha, which sold 3 lakh units last year, is facing competition from Hero Honda, Bajaj Auto and TVS.

According to figures of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers for the first 11 months of the last fiscal, Hero Honda sold 28.83 lakh units in the domestic market and exported 86,403 units. Bajaj Auto sold 19.39 lakh units and exported 2.71 lakh units. TVS Motors registered sales of 7.77 lakh units and exports of 74,181 units. Yamaha exports to Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Columbia, the Philippines and Mexico.

Suzuki Motorcycles India, plans to sell both motorcycles and scooters in emerging markets where the annual demand is over a million units.

Vice-president Atul Gupta said, “India will be our hub for Africa, South America and countries around India.”

Bajaj Auto also has big plans. A fourth of its total sales are in overseas markets, a senior company official said. For the first half of the current fiscal, the company expects to export about three lakh units and sell over 1.1-1.2 lakh units in the domestic market.

The company aims to export 1.5 million units in the next two to three years. Bajaj exports to Sri Lanka, Columbia, Peru, Egypt, Nigeria, the Philippines and Iran.