Ministers, bureaucrats need to get out of ivory towers, says Rajiv Bajaj

"Lockdown has destroyed tier one and two suppliers. Ministers and Joint Secretaries need to get out of their ivory towers and see what’s happening on the ground”, he said. Bajaj added that companies would also have to take into account the possibility of farmer protests disrupting production plans.

Bajaj said there was no sign so far that people were switching to personal vehicles in the wake of COVID. According to the industry veteran, three months of lockdown should have generated at least 33 percent uptick in growth for the rest of the year which has not happened. “Fundamental demand is down, people have lost jobs, had salary cuts and are tentative. I don’t see any obvious shift to personal mobility”, he said.

Bajaj said that the second quarter had been satisfying both in terms of domestic sales and exports. Bajaj said that the Q3 sales forecast for Pulsar alone was an unprecedented two hundred thousand motorcycles. “Our premium segment including the Dominar, KTM and Husqvarna are seeing a 50 percent growth in September over last year. We will be able to ship out two hundred thousand units in September and for October we have a target of 250000 units. All our strong markets like Nigeria and Egypt are coming back. Looking at a strong recovery in three wheeler segment too”, said Bajaj.

Bajaj added the company is targeting a bigger share of the 100CC commuter segment where Hero MotoCorp holds the biggest market share. The company is looking to roll out new variants of the CT and Platina from October to November. “We have done a lot of work on our 100CC products with a very sharp focus. We will present a strongly differentiated portfolio with real benefits and price points. We are going to grow our share significantly”, said Bajaj.

Bajaj Auto is looking to produce 300 units of the Chetak EV in October for Pune and Bengaluru markets. The company is hoping to cut losses in the EV business by 1/3rd in the first quarter of next financial year. “We hope to have another growth stream with EV’s in the next two three years said”, Rajiv Bajaj.