Yamaha chalks out India plans

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 12. Yamaha today announced major structural changes in its India operations following the acquisition of balance 26 per cent of the equity in its motorcycle manufacturing joint venture with the Escorts Group.

The 100 per cent subsidiary will serve as the base for exports of Yamaha bikes to other countries. The company is encouraged by the positive outlook predicted for the motorcycle segment due to recovery of Asian markets and the rapid increase in sales in the Latin American market. At present, the company is the biggest exporter of motorcycles from India but its volumes were a modest 20,000 units in the last fiscal.

The second axis of the strategy will be to increase domestic sales exponentially to 5.5 lakh motorcycles by the year 2003 in order to corner 21 per cent share. The motorcycle sub-segment is the only one in the two-wheeler sector to have recorded double digit growth for several successive months.

But Yamaha will require considerable effort to achieve the domestic target set for itself. The 74:26 JV called Yamaha Motor Escorts sold 1.71 lakh motorcycle in 2000-01 which was a major slippage from the 2.51 lakh units sold in the previous fiscal. Its Japanese competitors, however, improved on their performance. Honda's joint venture with the Hero Group was the market leader with sales of over one million bikes during the last fiscal while Suzuki's JV with TVS also recorded much higher sales of 3.54 lakh units.

Yamaha officials said the company is planning to launch four models in the next three years to ensure its presence in all the categories but declined to divulge the details.

Other components of the strategy include strengthening of the R & D team to produce bikes more attuned to Indian conditions and upgrading and streamlining the dealer network. The total Japanese control over the Faridabad (Haryana) and Surajpur (U.P.) plants will usher a ``result oriented work ethic,'' said Mr. Shibuya.

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Section  : Business
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