Wheels India setting up new plant to serve overseas market

: Manufacturer of steel wheels, Wheels India was setting up a new plant at an investment of Rs 140 crore to serve overseas markets, a top official said on Tuesday.

'the company expects to start production of Cast Aluminium wheels for export markets from a new plant near Chennai coming up at an investment of around Rs 140 crore," Wheels India Chairman S Ram said at the 60th annual general meeting.

Holding that there was a reasonable growth in the light and small commercial vehicle segments during last financial year, he said it is hoped that after a normal monsoon, the sentiment in rural markets will improve (this year).

Ram said the company has set up an research and development testing facility at the existing manufacturing unit in Padi, Chennai.

"We have set up a state of the art world class research and development testing facility where we will also offer product testing services to companies in addition to the products we manufacture," he said.

The company witnessed a strong growth in windmill segment in the domestic market and was expected to continue this financial year with reasonable demand from existing customers, he said.

The Chairman said there was also a strong demand for air suspension systems for buses of state transport undertakings and private players in 2018-19 and this trend was expected to continue in this financial year too.

On exports, he said Wheels India registered a strong growth in demand last year for its products in international markets with exports reaching Rs 610 crore.

On the outlook for current financial year, he said it is a challenging year in terms of demand with a slowdown in major customer industry segments -- commercial vehicles, construction equipment and mining trucks.

"We will focus, internally, on reducing costs and rationalising operations in light of these challenges," he said.