The Hindu Business Line : TVS bikes to roll out of Mahabharat factory

Hosur, Aug. 26 TVS Motor Company Ltd would roll out in two months two-wheelers from the Uluberia factory of Mahabharat Motors in West Bengal and the vehicles would be manufactured on contract basis, said the President, Mr K.N. Radhakrishnan.

TVS would not have any equity participation in the venture and would only provide technical support for assembling bikes, he said.

TVS, which has factories in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, does not have any manufacturing unit in the eastern region.

“We plan to start slowly in West Bengal with an assembling facility for the TVS Star Sports motorbike and would consider manufacturing other ranges of vehicles later,” Mr Radhakrishnan told a group of visiting media persons from West Bengal at its factory here recently.

The company had plans to increase its market share in West Bengal from 13 per cent to 20 per cent within the next two quarters, he said.

Three-wheelers

Initially, 1,000 motorbikes a month would be rolled out from the Uluberia unit, Mr T.G. Sridhar, Chief Operating Officer, Mahabharat Motors, said, adding that up to 5,000 bikes could be produced every month at a later stage.

TVS was also mulling to roll out of the Uluberia factory its LPG version of three-wheelers, TVS King. However, these vehicles, likely to be launched this fiscal, would be under a different brand, Mr Radhakrishnan said.

Mr Sridhar did not rule out the possibility of the three-wheeler being named Arjun, the name Mahabharat Motors had chosen for its own range of motorbikes. The LPG version of three-wheelers had a captive market in Kolkata with the West Bengal Government issuing a directive to auto-rickshaw drivers to switch over to vehicles using only LPG, an officer at Mahabharat Motors said. TVS, it was estimated, could supply 15,000 vehicles out of the 35,000 due for immediate replacement.

Mahabharat Motors, a joint venture between Indonesia’s Salim Group and Universal Success Enterprises Ltd promoted by Mr Prasoon Mukherjee, an NRI, did not have any plans to manufacture its own brand of vehicle in the Uluberia factory in the near future, Mr Sridhar clarified.

The company has invested Rs 100 crore in the venture so far and planned to invest Rs 50 crore more soon, he said, pointing out that about 100 people would be employed at the factory initially. Further investment decision would be guided by the assembling contracts of TVS, he added.

Mahabharat had proposed to invest over Rs 1,200 crore in the factory.

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