Bajaj to focus on markets abroad, to export 35% of production

Bajaj Auto aims to sell about 35 per cent of its production — that is more than 1.5 million units — in the export market this financial year, the country’s second biggest bike-maker said on Friday.

The company’s export volumes will outgrow domestic sales in the coming years, its managing director Rajiv Bajaj said, but declined to provide a time frame.

The Pune-based company is planning to produce 4.5 million units this financial year. The plan targets the export markets of Africa and Latin America (except Brazil).

The company, which exports its bikes and three wheelers to 50 countries, is forming a business model to get into Brazil, Bajaj told a press conference here

On the possibility of setting up a new plant in India, especially Gujarat where it is eyeing for a manufacturing facility, he stated that the company has not taken a decision on it yet. However, Bajaj Auto has maintained that it is currently operating at 90 per cent of its manufacturing capacity.

In the domestic market, the company is gearing up to introduce a new Pulsar which will be better powered than the current-generation Pulsar bikes incorporating new technologies. Further, bikes manufactured under the KTM-Bajaj partnership will be launched next calendar year. These bikes will be branded as KTM and sold through Bajaj showrooms.

Bajaj, which will make the KTM bikes at Chakan off Pune, will be exporting the KTM bikes from India at a later date.