Bajaj Auto Ltd.

Bajaj Auto, India’s No.2 motorcycle maker aims to boost sales by about 40% to 4 million vehicles in the fiscal year beginning April, powered by a 100cc bike it launched last year. The target was set at a board meeting on Wednesday, adding it hoped to sell almost 2.9 million vehicles including exports of 900,000 in 2009-10, up 32.4% from a year earlier. There was strong demand from overseas markets such as Sri Lanka, Africa and Latin America. It has sold nearly 2.6 million motorised 3-wheelers in the first 11 months of the current fiscal year ending March, including 1.75 million vehicles domestically.
 
Sales in the coming year would be driven by the 100cc Discover that notched up sales of 500,000 units within 225 days of launch, and the more powerful Pulsar. The two models should contribute more than 2 million units to sales in 2010-11, when total bike sales are expected to reach 3.6 million units.
 
The board also approved raising manufacturing capacity to 5 million vehicles annually from 4 million now in anticipation of continued growth in the domestic and world markets in 2011-12. It hoped to maintain its operating margin at about 22-23% in the current quarter, helped by its pricing power and lower operational expenditure but it could dip in the coming year.