Eicher Motors profit up by 71.3%, powered by Royal Enfield

Royal Enfield plans to invest Rs 600 crore in product development and R&D

Eicher Motors has reported 71.3% growth in profit during the quarter ended March 31, 2016, at Rs 334.5 crore, as compared to Rs 195.3 crore. For the whole year, the company's profit rose by 61.2% to Rs 1,082.6 crore from Rs 671.5 crore.

Siddhartha Lal, managing director and CEO, Eicher Motors, said the company achieved this stupendous growth due to Royal Enfield.

Eicher Motors — standalone, ie: the Royal Enfield business, posted its best-ever performance in the quarter ended March 2016. In this quarter, Royal Enfield sold 1,48,185 motorcycles, registering its best-ever quarterly sales and posting a growth of 59.6% over 92,845 motorcycles sold in the same period last year. 

The company's standalone profit rose by 68.3% to Rs 359.3 crore from Rs 213.5 crore, while total income rose by 60.7% to Rs 1,545 crore from Rs 961.2 crore.

Lal said: “Royal Enfield performed exceedingly well in the last quarter, bringing a phenomenal 2015-16 financial year to an end. This has been a milestone year for us with the launch of Himalayan — our first-ever completely ground-up motorcycle. With Himalayan we introduced a purpose-built and versatile motorcycle that makes adventure touring more accessible in India. The motorcycle has been extremely well received by the community and customers, which is reflected in our strong order book for the Himalayan.” 

He added that Royal Enfield will be investing Rs 600 crore towards product development. It will be setting up two technical centres, in Leicestershire, UK, and Chennai, India, in a bid to enhance our manufacturing capacity and market development activities across geographies. 

In 2016-17, the company plans to manufacture 6,75,000 motorcycles. 

“Our immediate business outlook remains strong and Royal Enfield continues to grow consistently, competitively and profitably towards leading and expanding the mid-sized motorcycle segment globally,” he added.