By IANS,
Chennai : Commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland is targeting sales of 90,000 units next financial year – a volume growth of around 38 percent over this fiscal’s sales – and hopes to garner 30 percent of the market.
“We are looking at sales of around 90,000 units next fiscal. We hope to close this fiscal selling around 65,000 units,” the company’s chief financial officer K. Sridharan told IANS.
“The sector is expected to grow by 15 percent and our target market share is 30 percent,” he added.
With its 75,000 units per annum Uttarakhand plant slated to go on stream March 5, Ashok Leyland believes it will be able to cater to the northern, eastern and western markets with much ease and at lower costs.
“Next year we will be rolling out around 25,000 units from Uttarakhand plant,” he said.
The Rs 5,981-crore company plans to roll out around 1,000 trucks from its Uttarakhand plant this month and will save handsomely from excise duty exemption.
Sridharan also said the company will be raising a debt of around Rs.700 crore over the next two years to fund its capex plans.
“Our total capex – in our own plants and joint ventures – over the next two years is estimated at Rs.2,000 crore. While Rs.700-800 crore will come from debt, the balance will be met from internal accruals,” he added.
Ashok Leyland plans to invest around Rs.500 crore in its joint ventures and bulk of that will go into the joint venture with Nissan Motor Company of Japan to roll out light trucks.
The Chennai-based firm will also be launching about six new trucks on its new U platform.