Honda Eyes 10-Fold Jump in Exports From India
Thursday, 29 September 2011, 18:05 IST
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Bangalore: The country's "low-cost-high-quality manufacturing hub" tag got a boost with the Japanese car major Honda announcing a plan to effect a ten-fold jump in exports from here this fiscal. "Honda Siel Cars India (HSCI) has already started exporting components and kits to Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia, and is targeting Rs 112 crore revenue from exports this fiscal," its President and Chief Executive Takashi Nagai told reporters here after launching its smallest and cheapest compact car, Brio, in Mumbai. Last year, the company exported car-components worth Rs 11.30 crore from the country, a senior company official said. Senior Vice-president for Sales & Marketing, Jnaneswar Sen, said that India delivers quality products at low prices, so the company is looking at it as a components-sourcing hub. Sourcing from India offers additional advantages such as de-risking from Japan, which was hit by a devastating earthquakes and tsunami early March, and a hedge against adverse currency movements, he said. A senior company official said last fiscal the company's total export turnover was Rs 11.30 crore. The official further said in the current fiscal, the company has started exporting engine parts for its sedan City and the hatchback Jazz to Indonesia and Malaysia. Besides, it is also exporting the kit and certain transmission equipment for the just-launched Brio to Thailand, the official said. All the exports are being sourced from Honda's plant in Rajasthan's Tapukara. When asked about the piling up of waiting period for its hatchback Jazz, Sen said the company is yet to come out of the Japanese shock and will be ramping up production from November. Another senior official said HSCI makes 600 units of Jazz at present, which will go up to over 1,200. Sen attributed the company's decision to not take pre-launch bookings for the Brio to the problem emanating from slow-down in sourcing of critical parts from the Japanese parent. "We do not want a customer to book and then wait for his car," he said. HSCI today launched the Brio, which has 90% components sourced domestically, in the financial capital with an ex-showroom price ranging between Rs 4.19 lakh to Rs 5.42 lakh. Brio, designed exclusively for India, has 90% local content which is the highest amongst Honda's offerings here, Sen said. HSCI plans to export the Brio to Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka very shortly. The car will be available in Nepal next month, he said.
Source: PTI
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