Sona Koyo Steering Systems, which heavily depends on Maruti for its revenues, has seen a dip in sales. But recent news suggested that the company was looking to invest around Rs 100 crore this year for capacity expansion, which indicates that the company is expecting good demand.
In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18, Surinder Kapur chairman and managing director of the company said that he is expecting sales to pick up once the festive season begins. “In my view, this slowdown is based on the increase in interest rates and fuel prices. Therefore, buyers of cars prefer to postpone their investment rather than not investing at all” he said. According to him, the festive season will change things and the current slowdown will be a thing of the past....
Sona Koyo Steering Systems, which heavily depends on Maruti for its revenues, has seen a dip in sales. But recent news suggested that the company was looking to invest around Rs 100 crore this year for capacity expansion, which indicates that the company is expecting good demand.
In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18, Surinder Kapur chairman and managing director of the company said that he is expecting sales to pick up once the festive season begins. “In my view, this slowdown is based on the increase in interest rates and fuel prices. Therefore, buyers of cars prefer to postpone their investment rather than not investing at all” he said. According to him, the festive season will change things and the current slowdown will be a thing of the past.
Talking about the company’s expansion plan, Kapur says that they want to improve capacity and in source a few processes that they were outsourcing. Therefore, they plan to invest Rs 30 crore for an aluminium die casting plant, Rs30 crore for in sourcing a lot of the processes that were initially outsourced and Rs 40 crore for expanding the hydraulic power steering capacity.
Below is an edited transcript of his interview with Sonia Shenoy and Gautam Broker. Also watch the accompanying videos.
Q: Before we talk about your capex plans, 60% of your revenues come from Maruti and we have seen Maruti go through so much chaos at Manesar. What is the situation now over there, how much of a production loss is Maruti really facing and what are the repercussions for companies like yourself?
A: First of all let me say it’s not 60%, its 50% that we depend on Maruti for. Having said that, it is the largest customer base we have and we are a joint venture of Maruti. But currently, as you all know, there is a labour situation at Manesar. Their Gurgaon plant is working full capacity and I am told some of the products may be shifted. But on the other hand, there is talk that this labour situation should get resolved soon.
We as a company for some strange reason are much more dependent on Gurgaon than we are on Manesar. The new plant in Manesar is where they are coming out with the new Swift and I think we will be heavily dependent on that. So we are actually waiting for the production of Swift to start in Manesar plant two. I am sure that if the industrial relations get sorted by the next few days, we will kick start with higher volume production for them.
So we have seen a dip in our sales to some extend. I think this is evident from the data which is available. Smaller cars are facing a slowdown in the sales side, but utility vehicles are not and that is good for us because we are a major supplier in the utility vehicle sector. Therefore, the situation to look at is how the festive season will overtake this so called slowdown right now.
In my view, this slowdown is based on the increase in interest rates and fuel prices. Therefore, buyers of cars prefer to postpone their investment rather than not investing at all. I think everybody is aware that liquidity is very good right now in the markets; the banks are flush with funds and therefore I think the festive season will bring about a change and this slowdown will be a thing of the past.
back
In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18, Surinder Kapur chairman and managing director of the company said that he is expecting sales to pick up once the festive season begins. “In my view, this slowdown is based on the increase in interest rates and fuel prices. Therefore, buyers of cars prefer to postpone their investment rather than not investing at all” he said. According to him, the festive season will change things and the current slowdown will be a thing of the past....
Sona Koyo Steering Systems, which heavily depends on Maruti for its revenues, has seen a dip in sales. But recent news suggested that the company was looking to invest around Rs 100 crore this year for capacity expansion, which indicates that the company is expecting good demand.
In an exclusive interview to CNBC-TV18, Surinder Kapur chairman and managing director of the company said that he is expecting sales to pick up once the festive season begins. “In my view, this slowdown is based on the increase in interest rates and fuel prices. Therefore, buyers of cars prefer to postpone their investment rather than not investing at all” he said. According to him, the festive season will change things and the current slowdown will be a thing of the past.
Talking about the company’s expansion plan, Kapur says that they want to improve capacity and in source a few processes that they were outsourcing. Therefore, they plan to invest Rs 30 crore for an aluminium die casting plant, Rs30 crore for in sourcing a lot of the processes that were initially outsourced and Rs 40 crore for expanding the hydraulic power steering capacity.
Below is an edited transcript of his interview with Sonia Shenoy and Gautam Broker. Also watch the accompanying videos.
Q: Before we talk about your capex plans, 60% of your revenues come from Maruti and we have seen Maruti go through so much chaos at Manesar. What is the situation now over there, how much of a production loss is Maruti really facing and what are the repercussions for companies like yourself?
A: First of all let me say it’s not 60%, its 50% that we depend on Maruti for. Having said that, it is the largest customer base we have and we are a joint venture of Maruti. But currently, as you all know, there is a labour situation at Manesar. Their Gurgaon plant is working full capacity and I am told some of the products may be shifted. But on the other hand, there is talk that this labour situation should get resolved soon.
We as a company for some strange reason are much more dependent on Gurgaon than we are on Manesar. The new plant in Manesar is where they are coming out with the new Swift and I think we will be heavily dependent on that. So we are actually waiting for the production of Swift to start in Manesar plant two. I am sure that if the industrial relations get sorted by the next few days, we will kick start with higher volume production for them.
So we have seen a dip in our sales to some extend. I think this is evident from the data which is available. Smaller cars are facing a slowdown in the sales side, but utility vehicles are not and that is good for us because we are a major supplier in the utility vehicle sector. Therefore, the situation to look at is how the festive season will overtake this so called slowdown right now.
In my view, this slowdown is based on the increase in interest rates and fuel prices. Therefore, buyers of cars prefer to postpone their investment rather than not investing at all. I think everybody is aware that liquidity is very good right now in the markets; the banks are flush with funds and therefore I think the festive season will bring about a change and this slowdown will be a thing of the past.