INDUSTRY PROFILE

Automobile industry in India

The automobile industry in India is the ninth largest in the world with an annual production
of over 2.3 million units in 2008 In 2009, India emerged as Asia's fourth largest exporter of
automobiles, behind Japan, South Korea and Thailand.

Following economic liberalization in India in 1991, the Indian automotive industry has
demonstrated sustained growth as a result of increased competitiveness and relaxed
restrictions. Several Indian automobile manufacturers such as Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki
and Mahindra and Mahindra, expanded their domestic and international operations. India's
robust economic growth led to the further expansion of its domestic automobile market which
attracted significant India-specific investment by multinational automobile manufacturers. In
February 2009, monthly sales of passenger cars in India exceeded 100,000 units.

bryonic automotive industry emerged in India in the 1940s. Following the independence, in
1947, the Government of India and the private sector launched efforts to create an automotive
component manufacturing industry to supply to the automobile industry. However, the
growth was relatively slow in the 1950s and 1960s due to nationalization and the license raj
which hampered the Indian private sector. After 1970, the automotive industry started to
grow, but the growth was mainly driven by tractors, commercial vehicles and scooters. Cars
were still a major luxury. Japanese manufacturers entered the Indian market ultimately
leading to the establishment of Maruti Udyog. A number of foreign firms initiated joint
ventures with Indian companies.

In the 1980s, a number of Japanese manufacturers launched joint-ventures for building

motorcycles and light commercial-vehicles. It was at this time that the Indian government
chose Suzuki for its joint-venture to manufacture small cars. Following the economic
liberalization in 1991 and the gradual weakening of the license raj, a number of Indian and
multi-national car companies launched operations. Since then, automotive component and
automobile manufacturing growth has accelerated to meet domestic and export demands.
HISTORY OF THE TWO WHEELERS:

The Britannica Encyclopedia a motorcycle as a bike or tricycle propelled by an

internal –combustion engine (or, less often by an electric engine). The automobile was the
reply to the 19th –century reams of self-propelling the horse-drawn bikeriage. Similarly, the
invention of the motorcycle created the self –propelling bicycle. The first commercial design
was three-wheeler built by Edward Butler in Great Britain in 1884. This employed a
horizontal single-cylinder gasoline engine mounted between two steer able front wheels and
connected by a drive chain to the rear wheel. The 1900s saw the conversion of many bicycles
or pedal cycles by adding small, centrally mounted spark ignition engine engines. There was
then felt the need for reliable constructions. This led to road trial tests and competition
between manufacturers. Tourist Trophy (TT) races were held on the Isle of main in 1907 as
reliability or endurance races. Such were the proving ground for many new ideas from early
two-stroke-cycle designs to supercharged multivalent engines mounted on aerodynamic,
bikebon fiber reinforced bodywork.

INVENTION OF TWO WHEELERS:

The invention of two wheelers is a much-debated issue. “Who invented the first
motorcycle?” May seem like a simple question, “safety”, bicycle, i.e., bicycle with front and
rear wheels of the same size, with a pedal crank mechanism to drive the rear wheel. Those
bicycles in turn described from high-wheel bicycles. The high –wheelers descended from an
early type of pushbike, without pedals, propelled by the rider’s feet pushing against the
ground. These appeared around 1800, used iron banded wagon wheels, and were called
“bone-crushers”, both for their jarring ride, and their tendency to toss their riders. Gottiieb
Daimler (who credited with the building the first motorcycle in 1885, one wheel in the front
and one in the back, although it had a smaller spring-loaded outrigger wheel on each side. It
was constructed mostly of wood, the wheels were of the iron-banded wooden-spooked
wagon-type and it definitely had a “bone-crusher” chassis!

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

Most of the developments during the early phase concentrated on three and four-wheeled
design since it was complex enough to get the machines running with out having to worry
about them falling over. The next notable two-wheeler though was the Hildebrand & Wolf
Mueller, patented in Munich in 1894. In 1895, the French firm of DeDion-button built and
engine that was to make the mass production and common use of motorcycle possible. The
first motorcycle with electric start and a fully modem electrical system; the Hence special
from the Indian Motorcycle Company astounded the industry in 1931. Before World War 1,
IMC was the largest motorcycle manufacturer in the world producing over 20000 bikes per
year.

INCREASING POPULARITY:

The popularity of the vehicle grew especially after 1910, in 1916; the Indian
motorcycle company introduced the model H racer, and placed it on sale. During World War
1, all branches of the armed forces in Europe used motorcycles principally for dispatching.
After the war, it enjoyed a sport vogue until the Great Depression began in motorcycles lasted
into the late 20th century; weight the vehicle being used for high-speed touring and sport
competitions. The more sophisticated of a 125cc model. Since then, an increasing number of
powerful bikes have blazed the roads.

HISTORICAL INDUSTRY DEVELOPMENTS:

Indian is the second largest manufacturer and producer to two wheelers in the World.
It stands next only to Japan and China in terms of the number of V produced and domestic
sales respectively. This destination was achieved due to variety of reason like restrictive
policy followed by the government of India towards the passenger bike industry, rising
demand for personal transport, inefficiency in the public transportation system etc. The
Indian two-wheelers industry made a small beginning in the early 50s when Automobile
products of India (API) started manufacturing scooters in the country. Until 1958, API and
Enfield were the sole producers.

The two –wheelers market was opened were opened to foreign competition in the
mid-80s. And the then market leaders-Escorts and Enfield – were caught unaware by the
onslaught of the 100cc bikes of the four Indo- Japanese joint ventures. With the availability
of fuel-efficiency low power bikes, demand swelled, resulting in Hero Honda –then the only
producer of four stroke bikes (100cc category), gaining a top slot.

The first Japanese motorcycles were introduced in the early eighties. TVS Suzuki and
Hero Honda brought in the first two-stroke and four-stroke engine motorcycles respectively.
These two players initially started with assembly of CKD Kits, and later on progressed to
indigenous manufacturing.

The industry had a smooth ride in the 50s, 60s and 70s when government prohibited
new entries and strictly controlled capacity expansion. The industry saw a sudden growth in
the 80s. The industry witnessed a steady of 14% leading to a peak volume of 1.9 mn vehicles
in 1990.

In 1990 the entire automobile industry saw a drastic fall in demand. This resulted in a
decline of 15% in 1991 and 8% in 1992, resulting in a production loss of 0.4mn vehicles.
Barring Hero Honda, all the major producers suffered from recession in FY93 and FY94.
Hero Honda showed a marginal decline in 1992.

The reason for recession in the sector were the incessant rise in fuel prices, high input
costs and reduced purchasing power due to significant like increased production in 1992, due
to new entrants coupled with recession in the industry resulted in companies either reporting
losses or a fall in profits.

CONCLUSION:

The two-wheelers market has had a perceptible shift from a buyers market to a sellers
market with a variety of choice, players will have compete on various fronts viz. pricing,
technology product design, productivity after sale service, marketing and distribution. In the
short term, market shares of individual manufacturers are going to be sensitive to capacity,
product acceptance, pricing and competitive pressures from other manufacturers.

As incomes grow and people grow and people feel the need to own a private means of
transport, sales of two-wheelers will rise. Penetration is expected to increase to
approximately to more than 25% by 2005.

The motorcycle segment will continue to lead the demand for two-wheelers in the
coming years. Motorcycle sale is expected to increase by 20% yoy as compared to 1%
growth in the scooter market and 3% by moped sales respectively for the next two years.

The four-stroke scooters will add new dimension to the two-wheeler segment in the coming
future.

The Asian continent is that largest user of the two-wheelers in the world. This is due to poor
road infrastructure and low per capita income, restrictive policy on bike industry. This is due
to oligopoly between top five players in the segment, compared to thirsty manufacturers in
the bike industry.

Hero Honda motors LTd., is one of the leading companies in the two-wheeler
industry. At present it is the market leader in the motorcycle segment with around 47% the
market share during FY 2000 –01. During the year, company posted a 41.15% yoy rise in
turnover to Rs.31, 686.5mn in motorcycles which driven by a 35.17% yoy rise in Motorcycle
sales volumes. The company has emerged as one of the most successful players, much ahead
of its competitions an account of its superior and reliable product quality complemented with
excellent marketing techniques. The company has been consistently addressing the growing
demand for motorcycles and has been cumulative customer base of over 4 million customers,
which is expected to reach 5min mark with rural and semi-urban segment being the new class
of consumers.