Hero MotoCorp Hikes Prices and Releases Annual Report

After Honda and Bajaj, India's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero MotoCorp, announced that the company had hiked prices for its two-wheelers in the range of Rs.500 to Rs.1500. The new price tags across its models has come with immediate effect. The company officially noticed the hike while disclosing the financial results for Q4, FY'13 and FY'13.



In the fourth quarter of Financial Year 2013 (Janaury - March, 2013), the company could manage to sell out only 15,27,351units compared to 15.72 units in the same period last year. With this the net profit resulted a decline of 4.9% as the company could bag only Rs 574.23 crore versus Rs 603.59 crore in the previous year.



Meanwhile, Hero also posted decline in the financial results for FY'13 (April 1, 2012 - March 31, 2013). The company's unit sales stood at 60,75583 two-wheelers which was 62,35,205 units in the FY'12. However, the company survived to keep up some net profit by ending the FY13 with Rs. 23,768 crore compared to Rs. 23,579 crore in the FY12.

This shows a clear challenge from the Japanese two-wheeler manufacturer, Honda Motor Company's wholly Indian subsidiary, HMSI, which spotted the second place in the Indian two-wheeler industry by beating Bajaj Auto. Honda had announced that the company would become the top player in the Indian market by 2016. Well, Honda is working out on its plans by launching new machines periodically.

Recognizing the strength of Honda and the weakness of Hero MotoCorp, Hero MotoCorp's MD, Mr. Pawan Munjal has said that the company will be launching new models in the coming financial year.

"FY,13 has been a rough year for the overall Indian auto sector. Weak macroeconomic sentiment coupled with subdued consumer confidence adversely impacted the industrial growth and sales volumes. Considering the current environment, these are tough times for the auto sector in India and we remain cautiously optimistic about the growth prospects in the near term. However, having sold over 60 lakh two-wheelers in just 12 months, we have sustained our performance during the period. Being the industry leader, we have planned major initiatives to boost the industry sentiment and accelerate growth in the new financial year, mainly through new launches, campaigns, capacity addition and network expansion. In a significant step working towards our global vision, we have commenced despatches to half a dozen new markets last fiscal and will add a few more to that tally soon," said Mr. PawanMunjal, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Hero MotoCorp.