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| Inflation, high fuel prices blessing in disguise: Hero Honda | |
| Press Trust of India / New Delhi October 02, 2008, 16:08 IST | |
Policy planners may be burning mid night oil to tame inflation and overcome surging oil prices, but Hero Honda which seeks to capitalise on this by pushing cost effective and fuel efficient vehicles in the market.
"While it is true that double-digit inflation of 11-12 per cent would certainly upset household budgets and postpone certain purchases, the rise in auto fuel prices might actually turn out to be a blessing in disguise for the two-wheeler industry," Hero Honda Chairman Brijmohan Lall Munjal said in the company's Annual Report for 2007-08.
Cost effective and fuel efficient modes of transport would become more popular, he added.
"Since fuel prices are not expected to soften in the near term, fuel-efficient industries such as ours could be beneficiaries.
"Infact, I will not rule out the possibility of a number of car-owning homes actually buying an additional two-wheeler to reduce the impact of the monthly fuel bill on the household budget," Munjal said.
He said domestic motorcycle sales shrunk by 12 per cent and for the first time in over a decade motorcycle's share in total two-wheeler market came down by about two per cent in the last fiscal on account of high interest rates.
"Being motorcycle-centric, we were also affected... Luckily, we weathered the storm -- and actually surpassed our tally of the previous year marginally," he said.
The company took control of over 54 per cent of the country's motorcycle market and led its nearest competitor by over 10 lakh units, Munjal said, adding its share in the premium segment increased to 24 per cent from 15 per cent.
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