Studds aims for domestic market share of 40 per cent

Studds, the world’s largest helmet-maker by volume, aims to capture over 40 per cent of the domestic market over the next three years.
Representational image for helmet.
Representational image for helmet.

NEW DELHI:  Studds, the world’s largest helmet-maker by volume, aims to capture over 40 per cent of the domestic market over the next three years. The home-grown company has logged a CAGR of 32 per cent over the last three financial years and, despite the annoying pandemic, aims to grow at around 10 per cent in FY21 too. 

“According to a 2018 report, 65-70 per cent of the market is for the organised or the ISI-certified players; whereas the rest of the 30 per cent is for the unorganised players.. According to a 2018 Frost and Sullivan report, we have a 27 per cent market share, which has grown to, I guess, 30 per cent now. We want to take this number to 40 per cent in the next three years,” Sidhartha Bhushan Khurana, Managing Director, STUDDS Accessories Ltd told this publication. 

“The first quarter of FY21 was affected by the pandemic and we saw a 50% decline YoY,” he admitted, “but given the quick recovery, we are hopeful to end this fiscal with 10% per cent growth. However, in FY 22, we look forward to grow at 50 per cent year on year.” Over 40-years old, the company believes the market opportunity is “pretty big” and that the government’s new diktat on banning non-ISI certified helmets will give organised players a big boost. 

“That’s a very big chunk of the market that’ll come to ISI-approved helmets and that’ll help branded helmets sell more. The government is also making sure that the riders are wearing helmets-it’ll soon be made standard for the pillion riders as well-which is a huge market,” Khurana said. In the FY20, the company sold close to 7.2 million helmets, out of which 500,000 were exported and the rest were sold domestically.

To meet the growing demand, the company recently opened up a new manufacturing plant in Faridabad that has a production capacity of 6 million units. This takes its total capacity to 12.5 million bike helmets and 1.5 million bicycle helmets per year. “Up until last year, we had two manufacturing facilities with a production capacity of 6.5 million units. In FY20, we opened a new unit for the manufacturing of bicycle helmets, with a production capacity of 1.5 million helmets.

We have started production in our newest plant with a production capacity of 6 million. So, right now we have a total capacity of 12.5 million bike helmets and 1.5 million bicycle helmets,” he noted. Studds is also eyeing a big chunk of the export market, and had come up with the export-focused premium segment SMK brand in 2016. 

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