CHENNAI: TVS Motor, two-wheeler and three-wheeler manufacturer, will be focussing on strengthening its exports and international business for next three to five years. Along with entering new overseas markets, the Chennai headquartered company aims to improve exports from its Indonesia plant, which reported a positive EBITDA of $750,000 for the full year against a loss of $3million in FY 2018-19.
Addressing the company’s AGM on Wednesday, chairman and managing director, Venu Srinivasan said the international business of TVS Motor has grown by 7 per cent in 2019-20, compared to 16.6 per cent in 2018-19.
“The company has a long term strategic partnership with BMW and has produced 72,000 units of BMW 310 motorcycles under the collaboration. TVS has also acquired Norton motorcycles which has enhanced its global portfolio bringing in complimentary products, segments, markets in the super-premium category,” said Srinivasan. The company has long-term plans to increase its presence in the overseas market.
“We will consolidate our presence in Africa and Latin America and improve our market share in some of the countries where we have scope for improvement. We are focusing on improving exports from our Indonesian plant also. For the next three to five years we will be focussing on the international side of the business by improving market share, ensuring customer satisfaction and entering new markets,” said Sudarshan Venu, joint managing director of TVS, at the AGM. The company expressed that its unique product range will help it to grow in the international market.
Srinivasan expressed that the second quarter looks good as they are witnessing a positive uptick in both domestic retails and in international markets as well, however he refrained from making any forecast for the year. “We will have to wait and see how the rest of the year pan out amid this coronavirus pandemic,” said Srinivasan. Speaking about the covid impact on the business, Srinivasan said that domestic demand was already down last year due to lower GDP and the prices of the products increased by nearly 30 per cent in the last 18 to 24 months due to GST, emission norm changes and insurance cost and coronavirus lockdown just added to the woes.
The company has reported a loss of Rs. 139.1 Crores for the quarter ended June 2020 as against profit after tax of Rs. 142.3 Crores reported for the quarter ended June 2019.