Bicycle prices set to rise by 5-7% from Feb

Bicycle is now going to be costlier from February. Bicycle makers have decided to raise prices by 5 to 7 per cent in view of rising input, especially steel and rubber.

"We are going to increase prices of bicycles by 5 to 7 per cent because of unimaginable increase in input prices like steel, rubber etc," Ludhiana-based Avon Cycles MD Onkar Pahwa told PTI today.

Bicycle makers will be raising the prices with effect from February and they have started asking their retailers to raise rates accordingly.

"We will not be raising bicycle rates at one go. Rather, first we will increase rates by Rs 60-65 per bicycle from February 1 and then another similar hike will be made from February 15 in bicycle prices," said Pahwa.

Another prominent bicycle maker Safari Group will also be raising the rates by Rs 65 to Rs 100 per bicycle, across the models from next month.

"We have asked our retailers to raise rates of bicycle from February by Rs 65 to Rs 100 depending on models," Safari Group MD RD Sharma said.

With the sudden increase in steel prices coupled with consistent rise in rubber, nickel, the input cost has gone up by Rs 100-150 per bicycle, which has hit the wafer-thin margin of the industry hard.

"We have seen huge spurt in prices of steel, nickel, copper, zinc, rubber... Which has increased the input cost by over Rs 100 per bicycle," country's leading bicycle maker Hero Cycles Director SK Rai said while adding that it was yet to decide on how much cost to be passed on to customers.

Stating that the bicycle is a price-sensitive item, he said that bicycles are mainly meant for poor people who could not afford any other transportation mode.

According to bicycle makers, prices of steel, which is a key input in bicycle making, has shot up by Rs 32 to Rs 35 per kg in the last one month. Natural rubber prices have jumped by almost 25 per cent in past three months to Rs 210 per kg.

Besides, increase in nickel and copper rates have also hit the bicycle cluster.

Country's bicycle production is estimated at 1.30 crore per annum with Ludhiana being the oldest cluster for it, having 70 to 80 per cent of share in the total production.