Exuding confidence about the company’s potential growth prospectus, the Chennai-based auto-component maker Wheels India said that this year demand is likely to come from goods commercial vehicle (CV) industry along with the bus segment that has been of late getting revived by the modernisation drive by state transport undertakings (STUs).
Addressing the shareholder at the AGM of the company on Wednesday, S Ram, chairman, Wheels India said this year there is expected to be some growth in the goods segment of the CV industry and strong growth in the bus segment driven by a modernisation drive by STUs and strong demand for buses for the school / office segments. This should benefit demand for Wheels India’s wheels and air suspension systems.
He also said he expects to clock growth in export business this fiscal on the back of its strong relationships with global OEMs.
Briefing about the last fiscal performance, he said in FY23, the demand for CVs was driven by the government’s infrastructure drive, higher utilisation of fleets and replacement demand. There were also some structural changes in the sub-segments of the CV industry to align with load rating changes that happened prior to the pandemic and higher horsepower vehicles in some segments. He said that there was strong growth in the bus segment in the latter part of FY23.
The company will start supplying cast aluminium wheels to OEMs in the latter part of the year and it expects the demand for the company’s steel and aluminium wheels to grow.
He said that the supply of wheels and fabrications to the construction equipment industry saw strong growth in FY23 driven by both domestic and export demand. The demand is expected to grow at a more moderate level in the coming year.
Wheels India started operations at a plant machining large hub castings for the wind turbine industry near Chennai in FY23. Ram said that the plant is expected to be profitable in the coming year.
Wheels India is a leading manufacturer of wheels for trucks, agricultural tractors, passenger vehicles and construction equipment, air suspension systems for trucks and buses, and industrial components for the construction and windmill industry with manufacturing plants at Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand.
