His company may have lost market share in its India motorcycle business last fiscal, but Rajiv Bajaj is unfazed. “While it’s true that we have lost four percentage points in the domestic bike market, fiscal 2013-14 has been the best ever in terms of profit in the history of Bajaj Auto,” its Managing Director told Business Line . The company is scheduled to declare its results on May 15.
Foreign markets “It’s perhaps important to bear in mind that we are a company which goes beyond just domestic market numbers. Ours is a global company whose motorcycles and three-wheelers are doing well in a host of countries,” Bajaj says.
For instance, Bajaj Auto’s market share for motorcycles in Nigeria (where the Boxer is the prime brand) has gone up in the last year from 34 to 44 per cent, while in Bangladesh it is up to 53 per cent (from 46 per cent). Likewise, in Sri Lanka, its market share has moved up from 74 to 82 per cent and in Uganda, from 81 to 88 per cent.
Similarly, the alliance with Kawasaki Motors has seen Bajaj Auto enhance its bike presence in Indonesia and the Philippines. Going forward, the duo will identify more opportunities in the ASEAN region, which includes Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and Malaysia. Kawasaki has been Bajaj Auto’s ally for over three decades now.
Likewise, the company will look at growing its global presence with KTM, the Austrian company in which it has a 48 per cent stake. Europe, the US, Japan and Australia are part of the road map for the future and it will be interesting to see if Latin America and Brazil, in particular, will be added to the list.
“While India is our largest market, it’s only one of our many global markets given that 40 per cent of our bikes and 60 per cent of our three-wheelers are now exported. So, we measure our performance on the basis of a global scorecard and not just India,” Bajaj says. During 2013-14, the company’s two and three-wheeler sales fell by nine per cent to 3.87 million units (4.23 million), while exports were up at 1.58 million units.
Holistic strategy From Bajaj’s point of view, the global strategy will only work with the mindset of a specialist. This is perhaps why he constantly insists that there is no way his company will revisit the scooter space even if this product segment is growing the fastest in India.
By the end of the day, motorcycles not only form a larger chunk of the global two-wheeler pie but are a far more profitable business, too. And, finally, the spare parts business is yet another ‘immensely profitable’ stream.