Atul Auto to complete expansion work by April

The three-wheeler maker is all set to double its production capacity from 26,000 units per annum to 48,000 units

Rajkot based three-wheeler maker Atul Auto Limited is all set to almost double its production capacity from 26,000 units per annum to 48,000 units per annum by April this year.

"Work on expansion is almost complete at the Rajkot plant, and we will double our installed production capacity from a current 26,000 vehicles per annum to 48,000 vehicles by end of April 2013. The company has invested around Rs 30 crore to increase the production capacity," Vijay Kedia, director, Atul Auto, said. The expansion work is on since the last one and a half years.

The company posted a 167 per cent jump in net profit for the third quarter of the fiscal to Rs 8.28 crore as against Rs 3.09 crore of the same quarter in the last financial year.

Net profit for the nine-month period ending December 31, 2012 stood at Rs 18.36 crore, recording a growth of 60 per cent over Rs 11.43 crore during the corresponding period last year. Company’s net sales during the third quarter has increased from Rs 85.84 crore to Rs 103.31 crore, up 20.35 per cent.

Net sales during the April-December period stood at Rs 265.95 crore up from Rs 215.64 crore in the corresponding period last fiscal.

Meanwhile, Atul Auto is also planning to set up manufacturing units in Sri Lanka.

Kedia said, "The company has already made an application to the Board of Investment of Sri Lanka seeking approval for the investment to be made in the neighbouring country and so far response is good. We hope to start our work soon in Sri Lank as the process is in final stage."

The company also reported a sales growth of 18.43 percent in the month of January 2013.

The sales in January this year was 2,808 units as against 2,371 units of January 2012. The company reported an increase of 20.47 per cent from April 2012 to January 2013 by selling 26,400 units as compared to 21,914 units sold in the corresponding period of 2011-12 fiscal.