Eicher Motors Limited (505200) Earnings Call Transcript & Summary

May 11, 2024

BSE Limited IN Consumer Discretionary Automobiles earnings 62 min

Earnings Call Speaker Segments

Basudeb Banerjee

analyst
#1

Hi, all. Welcome to Eicher Motors Limited Post-Q4 FY '24 Results Conference Call. We have with us the senior management of Eicher Motors, represented by Mr. Siddhartha Lal, MD and CEO; Mr. Vinod Aggarwal, MD and CEO of VECV; Mr. B. Govindarajan, CEO of Royal Enfield; Mrs. Vidhya Srinivasan, CFO, Eicher Motors Limited. Thanks, again, to the management for giving us the opportunity to host the call. Without wasting any time, over to the senior management for their initial comments.

Siddhartha Lal

executive
#2

Thank you, Basudeb, and ICICI for hosting this for us. And hello, everyone, and welcome to the earnings call for Eicher Motors Limited for the quarter ended -- quarter and year ended March 31, 2024. So we've had an absolutely stellar year at Eicher Motors with consistent and solid growth through the year, and we've grown from strength to strength each quarter, and making -- marking new milestones in our business and financial performance. I'm going to begin with our update on Royal Enfield. Again, an absolutely fantastic year with -- where we've maintained our lead and our dominance in the premium motorcycle segment and have closed the year with [ 9,12,000 ] [indiscernible] approximately. So that's the best performance we've ever had in a year. Had some absolute category defining launches this year. We introduced the Himalayan on our new engine platform, the Sherpa 450. And we've seen absolutely tremendous response from consumers in India and around the world, and from critics and media and [indiscernible]. So -- and in sales as well. So on the product development and manufacturing and quality front, we've continued to push the boundaries and are now absolutely amongst the best in the world, which is evident from the fact that we've got the world's best cruiser and possibly the world's best adventure motorcycle also, based on all the inputs and all the awards we've got, which is the Super Meteor 650 and the new Himalayan. And of course, we also -- the Himalayan also won the Indian Motorcycle of the Year in 2024, which is the most important award because it involves the largest group and a very large group of motorcycle journalists who come up with this. It's a single award. And this is our fourth Indian Motorcycle of the Year in the last 6 years. So we've dominated that single award that's given to the best Motorcycle of the Year. We've also made great strides in our EV journey in the last [indiscernible], and we have a very solid, not only single product, but a range thought process. We have really built our development capabilities, our technology, our technical teams and now even our commercial teams are really being built up. And we're working on a very solid differentiated portfolio and lineup for EV, which will come in the right time in due time. Coming to VECV, our joint venture with Volvo for commercial vehicles, we've had our highest-ever sales for the Eicher truck and bus division for Volvo trucks for VE powertrains, where we sell engines to Volvo Group around the world. And in our components business and our power solutions business, these are all verticals of VE commercial vehicles. And on the EV front, at VECV, we have delivered over 230 electric buses so far, and 75 EV trucks, our Eicher Pro 2055. And -- so we are making strong progress on the EV front and deliveries and tracking how those vehicles are going, which is very good. We also showcased a new electric, small commercial vehicle at the Bharat Mobility Show earlier this year. So we are entering into the small commercial vehicle segment, which is the 2 to 3.5 tonnes. And the first vehicle in that VECV for Eicher will be an electric vehicle. So yes, global category is extremely new for VECV, and so is the EV first type of program. But this is a category where Eicher brand has a lot of salience, a lot of brand equity because of our strength in light and medium duty as well. So we're very hopeful that we'll make a big impact in this very large market of small commercial vehicles. We also made huge progress in our sustainability journey. We've -- our most ambitious social mission project, which is the Himalayan Hub, went live where we have -- in Theog in Himachal. So we have fellowships. We have hub for circularity for experimentation for, let's say, responsible travel. These are the kind of areas that we're looking at to develop over the years for sustainable travel and sustainability in the Himalayas. We also had another very important project called the Himalayan Knot, which is about strengthening indigenous heritage textiles in the Himalayas, and along with the Himalayan artisans and communities being closer to urban designers and urban markets and rider community. So that's gone on well. We also concluded the second edition of the great Himalayan exploration, in partnership with UNESCO. So -- which is the concept there is to document and conserve the intangible cultural heritage. In this case, we are doing it in the 8 states of the Eastern Himalayas, where we've documented this year, 45 different intangible cultural heritage elements for posterity, for future, for reference, for support. So it's a very exciting project. Well, now coming to the financials. We've had another record-breaking performance. So we have a lot of best evers coming up in revenue and EBITDA and PAT. So the consolidated financials for Eicher Motors Limited for fourth quarter and for the full year. We've had a highest-ever revenue for 8 quarters in a row now, and resulting in the highest-ever annual revenue in EML. So for Q4, revenue for EML stood at INR 4,256 crores, up 12% from last year. For the full year, EML revenue stood at INR 16,536 crores, up 14.5%. And if you take the INR 16,536 crores for EML consolidated, and then you add VECV, which is not part of the first figure, and VECV is INR 21,459 crores. So the combined revenue on both RE and VECV, so if you look at the group level, is nearly [ INR 38,000 crores ]. So that's $4 billion combined revenue last year. EBIT profits have grown year-on-year and sequentially, and we registered the highest-ever PAT and EBITDA for the quarter as well. The EBITDA is [ INR 829 crores ], up 21% for the quarter. And for the year, it's INR 4,327 crores, up 26%. So solid growth in EBITDA, both for the quarter and for the year. The EBITDA margin is at 26.5% for the quarter, that's 2 percentage points higher than last year and 26.2% for the full year, which is against 23.8%. So it's substantially higher than the previous year around. Our PAT is at INR 1,070 crores, up 18%. And for the year, we got ahead of INR 4,001 crores mark, up [indiscernible]. So solid numbers overall, as far as we're concerned, from EML. And now I hand over to Govind, the CEO of Royal Enfield to you give you a little bit more insight and detail on the Royal Enfield business performance.

B. Govindarajan

executive
#3

Thank you, Siddhartha. Hello, everyone. Good afternoon. Thanks for joining on a Saturday. All of us at Royal Enfield are super proud of the several milestones we have achieved in the year '23, '24. Not only have we seen exceptional performance for Q4, we have also sustained strong growth momentum throughout the year in all quarters, despite a lot of actions, which you would have seen in the middleweight segment. During this quarter, we 2,27,925 motorcyles, which is up by 6.2% on Y-o-Y basis. For the financial year, as Siddhartha mentioned, we sold about 912,000 motorcycles, which is compared to last year, which was only about 8,34,700 motorcycles. This is our highest-ever volumes in the country in India. With this, we have surpassed our pre-COVID level and have maintained the robust growth momentum, with about 30% market share in more than 125cc category. And our motorcycle market share is almost about 7.2% on our overall mixes. In the international markets, we recorded a sale of 77,209 units. Despite weak macro backdrops, which you all know, our retail sales in the international markets remain on a steady growth track across the regions in this year FY '24. As a result, we have maintained our market share in the middleweight segment across the market outside India, too. During this year, we forayed into some new countries, like Turkey, which has a strong market relation for motorcycling. On manufacturing, just to add, we have produced 9.2 lakh motorcycle this year, which is, once again, highest production with high-quality [indiscernible]. Our plants are continuing to create new benchmark in efficiency, automation and manufacturing excellence. Our Oragadam plant at Chennai was awarded the future-ready factory by Frost & Sullivan. And we also received the excellence in operations and smart factory of the year in 2023. We achieved our highest-ever revenue for non-motorcycle business, given we are expanding service reach, robust growth in accessories and widening range of apparels and adding more and more SKUs in the accessories business. Throughout the year, we steadily elevated pure motorcycling experiences for our customers, with the introduction of programs such as Assured Buyback, REOWN and tours and rentals, which are already getting traction now. Consumer response to these programs has been very, very encouraging to us, and we will continue to enhance these initiatives. This year, we also introduced 2 connected motorcycle systems, with advanced telematics and navigation capabilities on motorcycles. The tripper dash on our all new Himalayan Sherpa platform of motorcycle, and the WINGMAN, the rider center connecting motorcycles in Super Meteor to start with. Motoverse this year posted the spirit of motorcycling in every sense of the world. Over 3 action packed days of music, motorcycling, art, culture, the 13th edition witnessed the participation of more than 15,000 attendees from across the globe. And during that time, we also unveiled the Shotgun 650 and announced the of Himalayan, which all have hit in the market very well. Under the sustainability initiative on the social mission, which Siddhartha mentioned about what we are doing at Himalayas and at green operation business level, I would like to share with you. We have achieved 0 liquid discharge in all our operations, right? All our plants and our warehouses are all net quarter positive, with an index of almost 3.23 in Oragadam and 2.02 in Vallam. We have been constantly working on improving the renewable energy usage. And during this year, further, we enhanced that, and we have another [indiscernible] of total consumption into the renewable energy. We were looking at constantly on reduction of carbon emissions. This year, we had to get target reduction by [ 30% ] compared to last year, and it has been completely on track. The product end of vehicle study, we wanted to do that to understand the recyclability, recoverability and reusability. And we started off with our Twins platform now we are doing for the rest of the products also. Happy to share with you that the reusability of the parts of our motorcycle are more than 98%. The recoverable is also equally the same. And we are working on completely usability and recoverability parts we used in the motorcycle. With the successful launches last year, we are well on our way to ride ahead on our strategic goals, with several more products, which are lined up. We are geared to continue this growth journey in India and across the globe. In conclusion, we had a very great year and have an even better one planned in the coming year. Now I'll hand it over to Vinod Aggarwal to take you through the VECV presentation. Over to you.

Vinod Aggarwal

executive
#4

Thank you, Govind, and a very good afternoon to all of you. As Siddhartha mentioned, financial '24 has been a record year for us on all fronts. Let me begin with the financial performance for the quarter as well as for the year. We had -- overall quarter 4 sales were 25,732 units. And of course, for the full year, we had 85,560 units as against last full year of 79,623 units. So with a growth of 7.5% for the full year. If you look at the industry, industry had grown by 4%. So therefore, since we have done better than the industry, we have improved in market shares in all our -- in most of our segments. As far as the revenues are concerned, our revenues rose to INR 6,275 crores in quarter 4. And of course, for the full year, our revenues stand at now at now INR 21,868 crores over last year full year revenue of INR 18,952 crores with a full year growth of 15.4%. As far as EBITDA margin is concerned, we had an EBITDA margin of INR 486 crores for the quarter. And for the full year, we had EBITDA margins of INR 1,715 crores as against last year full EBITDA margins of INR 1,387 crores with the growth of 23.6%. And EBITDA margin for the quarter was 7.85% and 8% for full year as against 7.5% for financial year '23. Profit after tax, while INR 242 crores for quarter 4 and INR 823 crores for financial year '24, which is a growth of 42% from INR 579 crores in the previous year financial year '23. And we achieved highest-ever Q4 sales for Eicher heavy-duty trucks at 6,476 for Eicher brand and 500 plus for the Volvo brand. And for the full year, we have heavy-duty trucks sales of 23,660 as against last year of 20,675 units. So with a growth of 14.4% as against the industry growth of 4% in heavy-duty trucks. So with this 23,660 units, our market share in heavy-duty trucks has gone up to 9.2% for the full year. And of course, if you look at the quarter 4 market share, quarter 4 market share for heavy-duty trucks was close to 10%, so which indicates that we are well on our journey to become a bigger and bigger player in the heavy-duty truck market. As far as the light and medium-duty trucks are concerned, we sold 11,033 units in the quarter achieving again our highest-ever market share of 35.8% in the light and medium-duty trucks for quarter 4. For full year, we sold 38,712 light and medium-duty trucks as against last full year of 37,318 units, with a growth of 3.7%. As against this, the market has dropped by 5.9%. So based on that, our market share in light and medium-duty trucks also, it improved to 34.7%. And of course, in almost 4 months in the full year, we were the market leaders in light and medium-duty trucks, which is, again, a very good development. As far as the bus segment is concerned, we sold 6,090 units in quarter 4. And of course, these were our highest-ever sales in the buses. And for the full year, we have sold 17,620 units of buses as against 15,077 in the previous year, with a growth of 16% plus. And of course, we continue to do very well as far as the parts business is concerned, with the overall sale of INR 574 crores in quarter 4, with a growth of more than 24%. And of course, apart from that, our VE powertrain, which is our euro 6 engine where we export these engines to Volvo Group. That unit is also doing very well. We delivered 15,717 units in quarter 4, which again are the highest ever. And of course, we achieved quite a few awards last year. And of course, we also were ranked #1 in dealer satisfaction survey consistently for 3 years in a row. And we also won customer satisfaction awards for heavy-duty trucks is #1. And in light and medium-duty trucks also #1 in the customer satisfaction survey, which was conducted by GfK, which is, again, a very, very credible achievement. And we were also given a CV maker of the year recognition at 2023 Apollo Tyres CV Awards. And we were also -- we also won 6 other product-related awards, again, acknowledging our efficient range of trucks and buses. And of course, as we all know, over 5 years ago, VECV became the first CV manufacturer to offer connected telematics as a standard. Over these years, we have built on this connected ecosystem to deliver artificial intelligence and machine learning-based remote and predictive diagnostics to customers. They were delivering uptime to them. On the sustainability front, as you are aware, that we have also -- we are one of the strong players in the CNG fuel-based trucks. We are also -- we have also entered LNG fuel-based trucks in both Volvo brand as well as Eicher brand. We are working on H2ICE technology. We are working on hydrogen fuel cells. So therefore, we are working on all these future alternate fuel technologies. And all our existing digital vehicles, they comply with all the strict current BS-VI, OBD2 standards. And then, of course, we are committed to increase the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency at our plants and operations. We have also implemented water saving measures and are aiming to reduce water usage per vehicle reduced by 5% annually. I now hand over back to Siddhartha for any last remarks.

Siddhartha Lal

executive
#5

Yes. Thank you very much, Govind, and thank you very much, Vinod. It's been an absolutely fantastic year for EML, for VECV. And as we step into this year, which we're already in, we are really confident that we'll continue to grow. And we have a lot of interesting things planned ahead. Royal Enfield's performance and success last year was particularly special as we achieved all of that in the light of huge, let's say, push of new competition -- new wave of competition. And it's our dedication to the motorcycling and to premium motorcycling. It's our extreme focus. It's our -- of course, we believe our products are a step ahead. And we've always -- even though the product cycle is 4 to 5 years in terms of conceptualizing to being on the road, we've always been a step ahead of competition, even when new competitions come in. We've already anticipated or consumer demand more than competition and been ahead of the curve. And -- but then it's well beyond that. I think for us, as a lot of you know that it's the entire holistic consumer experience. That's what we are obsessed about at Royal Enfield. That's what we think about daily, more than competition, more than investors more than anything else we if consumers and we, ourselves, Govindarajan, myself, we're on the motorcycles, riding, understanding, future bikes, competition bikes, EV bikes we're -- and our whole team. We're absolutely obsessed and we're focused on that consumer experience and understanding them better on -- understanding their pains, understanding their joys, understanding what will motivate them because we do it ourselves. And that's the difference. It's a holistic really, really detailed thoughtful experience that we provide our consumers. And we continue to remain super focused on doing just that. So that's just an update from all 3 of us. Thank you very much for listening. And now we're open for some questions.

Basudeb Banerjee

analyst
#6

[Operator Instructions] So first question is from Gunjan Prithyani.

Gunjan Prithyani

analyst
#7

My first question is on the Royal Enfield side. If you can share a little bit more in terms of what are we seeing on the demand side? April was certainly quite a strong month, where there was an element of seasonality as well. But if you can share how should we think about the demand growth or outflow for fiscal '25? And also, just clubbing Himalayan along with that, that launch happened towards -- the ramp-up had to happen in quarter 4. So now do we have a sense of what's the steady run rate for Himalayan 450cc for the domestic market?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#8

Gunjan, about the overall market, I'm sure you guys are following it more than us and getting the datas in different form. What we can say is the 2-wheeler market is poised for a growth, and especially the middleweight. We anticipate the middleweight growth will be in double digit. As we always say that we should be ahead of the curve, with all the new products which we launched last year and new products, which are going to come in this year, we feel that there is enough headroom for us to grow. In fact, the premiumization as a team is continuing in India. That's a good sign for all of us. The motorcycle industry, I think is slowly coming back to the pre-COVID level. We are seeing that month-on-month, which is slowly gaining momentum. It will actually help us with all our preparedness, which we have done over the period of time. As far as the Himalayan is concerned, we launched. And it has been a super hit for us and happy to share with you, it's beyond the expectation of the numbers, which we are talking about. You know, Gunjan, that we don't give exact numbers. But having said, we are currently clocking as good as 200-plus motorcycles a day. So that's there. But we are also preparing ourselves on the higher numbers because we see there is a good potential for us across the globe. As of now, only in few international markets we've opened. And we are slowly opening to the rest of the market. So we see that motorcycle also will give us a better growth in coming years.

Gunjan Prithyani

analyst
#9

So 200-plus motorcycle a day, and we are not yet seeing that in terms of dispatches. Is that a supply ramp-up, which is more gradual year?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#10

As of now there is also a season in international market. So we have to do that with the interactional markets also. So we have -- currently, what we are doing is, depending upon the FIFO level, we are trying to match to the consumers of domestic market and also to the international markets. But we are working on increasing the supply situation, which you will see in time to come the improvements.

Gunjan Prithyani

analyst
#11

Okay. And just second question on the platform that sort of picture that you put in the presentation. There are a fair bit of white space that's clearly evident across platforms, right? And I know you will not talk about which product, which launch. But in terms of next, if you were to think about next 12, 18 months or 2 years, what are the key white spaces in the respective platforms that you think are priority areas to address across platforms? There is only one bike on 450cc. There's only 1 on the D platform. So a little bit color on how we should think about bridging of these white spaces over the next 2 years?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#12

Quite a long answer to be given, Gunjan, but still I'll try to short slightly. We have currently 3 platforms. We have our super refined J platform. Then we have our 450cc platform, which is the Sherpa platform and the 650cc platform. We also had that 411 platform and in some of the products, we are continuing there. In all these platforms, as we always say, we are a focused company. We don't do too many things. But the platforms are grouped to bring out different motorcycle, which addresses the different set of segment of consumers, which we can give a differentiated experience. That's why on the J platform, you can see we have a Bullet, we have Classic, we have Hunter, we have Meteor. And all of them have their own space and the consumer sets and experiences are very different to the people. Similarly, on that 450cc platform. As of now, we have come out with the Himalayan. And we will come out very soon. You will see a fantastic motorcycle from the same platform. And on the 650cc platform, we have our Continental GT, Interceptor, Shotgun and the Super Meteor 650. All are very different motorcycle and which gives a differentiated experience. So to that extent, all the platform changes and the improvements which we have done. There is -- we have to give some space for that also to grow. 411cc platform we launched [indiscernible] wasn't there. But over the period of time, we created a category like that for all these platforms and the products which we are bringing in, we have to give that space to actually grow because consumers also have to get accepted to that. We know, that these are all outstanding products, which will grow in the market over a period of time. We constantly look at as Siddhartha was mentioning, we ride motorcycles. We are motorcyclists first. When we ride, when we see there is a possibility for us to give you a different kind of a motorcycle in the same platform, we always keep thinking about it, but that's all thought through at the platform development stage itself. We don't do afterthought discussions on all these things. So around the platform, as we presented to you people, we have a lot of new products, which are already lined up, which will start coming one by one.

Basudeb Banerjee

analyst
#13

Next, your question from Kapil Singh.

B. Govindarajan

executive
#14

Kapil, please proceed or we can move to the next maybe.

Basudeb Banerjee

analyst
#15

Next, we have in the queue Jinesh Gandhi.

Jinesh Gandhi

analyst
#16

Can you hear me?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#17

Yes, Jinesh.

Jinesh Gandhi

analyst
#18

Congrats on good set of numbers. Quickly, 2 questions on the RE business. So on the export side, we have started to see some bit of pickup on the wholesale volume side. Are you seeing similar trends on the retail? Are things looking up now vis-a-vis what it was 6 months back?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#19

In the international market, Jinesh?

Jinesh Gandhi

analyst
#20

Yes. Yes.

B. Govindarajan

executive
#21

No. You, all -- the last quarter also was just telling, we don't have the wholesale. Wholesale is only a transaction number for us. We always look at retail. And as the retails were better and last year, as I mentioned, the retail focus is what is there, there is -- happy to share that the retail has been very good in all the markets across the globe, also in Tier 2. And to that extent, you are seeing the wholesale also picking up slowly.

Jinesh Gandhi

analyst
#22

Okay. So we should expect this run rate to improve upon given recovery in the retails?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#23

That's how the equation also works. But all of us have to be keeping only one thing in mind is the international market macro situation, it's a market-by-market situation. It's not across. So every market, depending upon the consumer sentiment, we will actually be looking at. As I always say, for wholesale, we can go on and do more numbers, but we are not that sort of a company. We look at retail, we actually look at it as a full brand rather than a push. So it's for a long term. What is required for the international market for us to be the leader over the period of time? All the key things which have to be in place is what is the focus. The team is actually doing it. We have our own subsidiary, wherever it were required. And we have our own CKD plants. Our teams are on the ground of actually picking up the consumer sentiments. We are looking at integration of the DMS. We are looking at the CRM package integration with the central team. So all those activities are happening constantly at international markets because we know for sure, there is a huge market potential for us and all our products are also fully accepted in the international market very well. So that's the positive feel which we have about international market.

Jinesh Gandhi

analyst
#24

Got it. And second question on RE margins, Royal Enfield margins. So clearly, we have seen a healthy evolution of margins, holding up upwards of 27%. From where we are today, what are the push and pulls, which we are seeing on margins over the next 12 to 18 months? What are the drivers you'd be looking from a margin perspective?

Vidhya Srinivasan

executive
#25

First of all, revenue growth itself is something that we are absolutely focused on. We're looking at absolute increases as far as EBITDA is concerned. We're not necessarily so focused on percentages, as you know. So growth, I think, in revenue will obviously flows in through to us in terms of the bottom line. We are also kind of increasing share and the international market coming back will also obviously have a bit of a flow-through as far as our profitability is concerned. And I think we are also seeing trade growth happening in the non-motorcycle side of the business, which is accretive to us. I think that is something that will also kind of flow-through. So I think commodity, we are kind of keeping our eye out on, at the moment, we're not seeing too much pressure coming in, but that's something that obviously we're watching out for and see how that impacts us.

Jinesh Gandhi

analyst
#26

Got it. And, Vidhya, just one clarification on VECV. We have seen some restatement of margins. And as a result, margins have declined in fourth quarter on Y-o-Y basis. But Q-o-Q basis, margins, again, have declined despite seasonally strong quarter. Any one-offs there?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#27

Yes. Basically, last year in Q4, there were some fiscal incentives, which we had accrued based on the very old, which were pending in Madhya Pradesh [ permit ]. So due to that, there was one-off in last year Q4. So due to that, the margin looked lower than the last year Q4. Other than that, there is no other reason.

Jinesh Gandhi

analyst
#28

But even on Q-o-Q basis, it has declined. So despite 25% growth in volumes.

B. Govindarajan

executive
#29

2Q basis is not a very big thing, but that's fine. That's not a -- it's one of reasons I think.

Basudeb Banerjee

analyst
#30

Kapil, you can try again. Okay. Seems some issue so we can go ahead with Raghu.

Raghunandhan N. L.

analyst
#31

So a couple of questions. Firstly, on commercial vehicle side. So on electric, ELCV, ESCV, buses, if you can talk a little bit about the volume potential going ahead. How you see that entry into ESCV to become big for the company? And also that on the e-buses, given the announcements on payment security mechanism, would you become more aggressive in future?

Vinod Aggarwal

executive
#32

Definitely, the e-vehicles are evolving now. Buses will be the one, I think, which will have good growth this year because government has this program Prime Minister e-sewa bus program, under which they are going to come out with more and more tenders. But of course, we will be very careful, not putting in the bids to pursue the volumes at any cost. So therefore, we will see that what makes sense for us. But of course, as far as the products are concerned, we are all ready with the 9-meter bus product, 12-meter bus product, and we are also going to introduce 13.5-meter intercity bus product. So products-wise, we are ready. But of course, we will be very careful until the government business of state transport undertaking because that business model still is very, very difficult business model where the entire payment is on per kilometer basis for next 12 years. So therefore, we have to see that if we do that business, it is done at the right prices. As far as the trucks are concerned, we were the first one to introduce electric truck in 5.5 tonne category. And last year, we have sold 75 electric trucks. And this year, of course, the traction is good. And we are also going to come out with more models in electric trucks. And the small commercial vehicle, which we had unveiled in Bharat Mobility Expo in February. And that product also we have now given on pilot basis to 10 customers last month, and that will be introduced on a commercial basis from January this year. So again, that's a very high potential. And this, of course, the electric model will be followed up by diesel and CNG in the next 6 months. So therefore, it's a -- electric technology is evolving. We are very much there in all the segments. But of course, we will be very, you can say, careful where we have to get in and where we don't have to get in.

Raghunandhan N. L.

analyst
#33

Congrats on the market share gains you've been seeing. If you can talk a little bit about the demand outlook also how you are seeing the demand and how you see the prospects?

Vinod Aggarwal

executive
#34

As far as the demand for commercial vehicle market is concerned, I think it has got a very good potential for growth. Fundamentally, because our economy is continuing to do well, and of course, we are expecting on the back of around some 6% to 8% growth last year, we are expecting that this year, also the economy should grow by 7% plus. So that is the first fundamental vision of growth. Second is the strong infrastructure program from government of India. And third is the pent-up replacement demand, which continues to be very strong because the new trucks, so new technology trucks, which has a lot of electronics and a lot of telematics and a lot of new features, which enhance the productivity and efficiency of the trucks, it makes a lot of business sense to replace the old fleet. So therefore, you will see more and more fleet looking for replacement. So therefore, the CV demand will also increase because of the replacement of the old trucks. So all 3 fundamental factors point towards that CV industry is going to have a good future. Even though there may be hiccups this month or that month, but overall, on a CAGR basis, we will see -- we are going to see a good growth.

Raghunandhan N. L.

analyst
#35

Just a quick question to BGR, sir. Sir, if you can talk about Shotgun 650, what would be the current volume and potential? And is there a case for a 350cc Bobber?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#36

New products, we all talk about it. When that comes near to the new product coming up, we will talk about that. Shotgun is, once again, a product which [indiscernible]. When we launched Super Meteor 650, at that time also we're thinking. It's a stunning motorcycle. It was launched in January. There's a huge response in the international market. It's a product which has just come. We have to nurture it. But what we are doing is we are also working along with all the custom builders and how that entire ecosystem can be integrated so that the product can be taken to the next level. So there's a lot of work which is happening. We see that product has a huge potential. It's a very [ planned ] motorcycle. And it has very different look and feel. Consumers are enjoying it. In fact, I'm at [indiscernible] and yesterday when I met a consumer who bought this, he was in love with this motorcycle and he said, "When I saw it, I thought I should have it immediately." So to that extent, there is a good response. So as I mentioned, it's just coming to the market, and we have to work on it a bit more, but we see there's a huge potential for that product also.

Basudeb Banerjee

analyst
#37

Next, we have a question from Binay Singh.

Binay Singh

analyst
#38

One trend that we see in Royal Enfield in the last 2 quarters, is that a greater than 350cc portfolio is doing well, partly driven by product launches? But just to understand the customer profile, is that changing? Because I remember the earlier the company always talked about this replacement consumer coming back. People who had a Royal Enfield, buying a Royal Enfield. And then we used to also talk about the average age profile coming down when the 350cc portfolio was rising. So with these new launches, are you able to sort of see any changes in your customer profile? Are people replacing? That's the first question.

B. Govindarajan

executive
#39

Yes, yes. I think the new product is coming up in the 350cc and above. The numbers are also coming. Percentages equally to be looked at what's happening in 350cc, right? But we have to grow all the platforms, all the CCs that's what the team is working on. But the new products like the Himalayan 450 on the Sherpa platform, which we launched 650 motorcycles, Shotgun, Super Meteor, all those things are doing well. You will see more products even in that. So those will also be growing. In the 350cc, also the products, we are planning a lot of activities, which will be happening. Overall, the growth is happening in all the areas. You touched upon the topic of the replacement cycle. In the last call, also I had mentioned, it is yet to kick in. but we have to be prepared. So what we have done is to give a very frictionless experience for those consumers almost about 6 million motorcycles, which are there in the market as a vehicle park. For them at a particular point of time to give the new motorcycle which they can exchange with, we came out with the REOWN as a platform [indiscernible] for someone to upgrade. Having said, we don't want our customers to actually change the motorcycle just because we have a new motorcycle. We have to be actually be working with them that they enjoy the motorcycling experience. Somebody who bought a Classic at some point of time, I mean, he wants to enjoy our Interceptor today, and then we should be there to actually help him out enjoy the motorcycling. And that's the focus which we are doing now. The replacement cycle will kick in at some point of time, but yet to see a good traction. It will take some time, but I think it's a growth path for us in future.

Binay Singh

analyst
#40

And secondly, could you share a little bit about like finance penetration? How is it now for you? And also the 3 programs that you started last year, the REOWN, the leasing program, what sort of percentage contribution is it coming from them? I assume it will be very small.

B. Govindarajan

executive
#41

Our finance penetration, as of now, is about 61%. It's steadily growing over the period of time. I mean because when the demography is coming down, it also is quite natural that the finance penetration will be there. So we came out with the digital finance marketplace, DFM which we did. We integrated that to our website and a journey of the consumers at the front end. We actually socialized that and say this is the finance option, which is available and very attractive finance schemes, which [indiscernible]. Yes, It's a lever. And it has to be available. As I mentioned, frictionless experiences, it's everything. When the consumer wants it, it should be available. That's one of the focus which we are doing. You asked about the REOWN and REOWN as a program. It just launched. We piloted in few cities. And in those areas, the numbers are coming in. We have to work with the entire ecosystem. We have to work with our dealership. We have to explain to them about the business model in which way it is better for them, beneficial for them and also to the consumers. So it is slowly taking traction. It won't be overnight, but it is the thing, which we feel for an upgrade cycle is very important for us.

Binay Singh

analyst
#42

Lastly, any price hikes we've taken recently? Anything on that in the Royal Enfield side and in the VECV side?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#43

Royal Enfield side, we haven't taken the price hike very recently. VECV, Vinod?

Vinod Aggarwal

executive
#44

In VECV, we are focusing more and more on the discount reduction. So even though we will not see the increase in the MRPs. So -- but we are trying to plug the gap between the MRP and the transaction prices. So therefore, we will see more and more rationalization happening in the discounts.

Basudeb Banerjee

analyst
#45

Next, we have a question from Arvind Sharma.

Arvind Sharma

analyst
#46

Two questions from my side. First, on the realizations. Royal Enfield, they're quite strong this quarter. Any specific reasons for sustainability there on?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#47

You asked the quarter is strong [indiscernible]?

Arvind Sharma

analyst
#48

Sir, on the realizations, the ASPs.

Vidhya Srinivasan

executive
#49

I think, no. It's just that [indiscernible] exports so that's possibly in impacting ASPs apart from that we have taken a price increase in May last year. So I think quarter-on-quarter the full benefit is coming through this quarter. So that's also there. So that's basically what is the reason for ASP increase.

B. Govindarajan

executive
#50

We haven't taken any price increase there, Arvind. It's only the mix and the higher cc motorcycles, which I think the previous question also which was asked. So that's what is actually helping us on the ASP.

Arvind Sharma

analyst
#51

Second question would be on commodity prices. Where are you seeing the trends right now? And again, would they be passed on? Or would you tend to absorb them going forward? If you could please elaborate on that?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#52

Commodities, it is not a headwind as of now. Is it a tailwind? May not be. So to that extent, there is some amount of stability, which is there. But it will be always -- always we will track it and then see what is that we have to do in this, especially the high cost, the PGMs, which goes into the motorcycles. And we are constantly working on value engineering to offset that. So passing on, not passing on is time to time when we do a pricing committee discussion, at that point of time, we decide. But it is also commodity going up, commodity coming down doesn't mean that the cost plus is actually the price. That's not the equation now we can play in the market. So it has to be the price value proposition for the consumer. And what does it mean? And what is that we are offering to the consumer? So that comes as a prime question for us always. So it's only one side of the equation, but we constantly see that what's the price value equation and depending upon that we take a decision on that.

Arvind Sharma

analyst
#53

But for now, you're not seeing any cost pressures as of now?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#54

It doesn't seem to be there at this juncture.

Basudeb Banerjee

analyst
#55

Next question is from Chandramouli.

Chandramouli Muthiah

analyst
#56

My first question is on the export markets. We have been making a concerted push into growing in the export markets for the past 5 to 6 years now. So just, at this juncture in our journey, I just wanted to understand, versus the Indian middleweight market, what are some of the similar factors for Royal Enfield's growth journey in export markets? And what are some of the factors that are slightly different, which you're having to sort of navigate around to potentially replicate the growth you had in the domestic middleweight market in some of the key export markets that we presently have sort of 8% to 10% market share?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#57

So, Chandramouli, in any of the markets, India, as Siddhartha was mentioning earlier, the market for the middleweight does somewhere around 50,000, 55,000 in 2011 types. We grew the market to almost about 900,000-plus. And the addressable market outside India is also almost the same size, but that has been grown by somebody over the period of time. With the first product of our Twins, because earlier to that, our 350cc motorcycles were not an export working motorcycles because it can't stand the emission norms, which are required. For the J platform, when we brought in the super refined engine, we really felt that, that motorcycle is also exportable. Then we started working on Twins. Now they all new Sherpa 450cc platform water-cooled and the products which are coming in, they're all now global appeal products. So products are sorted. You will see more products, which we are working on. In the international market, what's more important is, as we always say, if we have to go open up more stores and then do a wholesale, that's an easy thing because now there is an acceptance, but that's not what we are as a company. We always look at our brand has to be in full brand. People should enjoy owning our motorcycles. In a situation where the macro economics are not so good, that's not the time to go and actually look at expansion in an aggressive way. We are a long-term aggressive company. We don't do anything short term, which I always say. So what is required for the international market of actually having our own subsidiaries, our own team on the ground constantly looking at the market growth, brand building and the community building, creating rides wherein we can be part of their community and ride motorcycles. That's what is the work, which we are doing here, whenever the market opens up. I mean, in fact, one more thing is the CKD plants, more and more the CKD plants where it is required to be near to the consumer, which also we are doing here. When the market opens up, you will see Royal Enfield riding the wave in the international market. I see some good green shoots now. The retails are better for us last year. And that's why you are seeing the wholesale also slightly better. In time to come, I think the market opens up, we are there for a good success.

Siddhartha Lal

executive
#58

Maybe I'll just add a little bit to add some more -- different texture to this. I think from what you're asking is that I mean, very simplistically, we divided in our export markets into 2. One is the richer countries, such as U.S., Europe, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, Korea, where the markets are there, they're not growing, maybe even declining, but affordability is very strong. If people like something, they'll pick it up. I mean if it's $5,000, $6,000, $7,000, it'll just -- that's not a problem. So Royal Enfield's salience is strong. The offer is great. The bike is relatively affordable to these guys, and great, great, absolutely amazing value. So [indiscernible] very strong, very strong in these markets. So that's one set of markets where there's not huge growth. There is growth potential for us, but within the spectrum of the market rather than growing the market as such, beyond a point, right. So that's the Western markets, but they're very important also from a profitability angle. Then you have, for us, what is the high potential markets, some markets in LatAm, some markets in Southeast Asia, where we see that we can make, let's say, in inverted commas, "mini Indias", right? So -- and we're going with that approach. After having learned in some of these markets over the last many years. We are focusing on some of them to really penetrate deeper to make it in India like idea for us, which is moving on to virtuous cycle. So we're in a virtuous cycle in India, where we have strong distribution, strong demand, strong residual value, strong service network, great brand recall and that promotes all of these things, again, that means so then more demand comes in and it's a virtuous cycle. So that's what we're trying to do in some of the LatAm and Southeast Asian markets, where which we feel as -- let's say, we term them ourselves as sort of new home markets, right? So where we want to be really present to our infrastructure, our market companies. We do our own distribution in some of these markets, and we will do our own distribution. We appoint the dealer ourselves. We may even have our own store once in a while, but really to get deep into a few of these markets where we see long-term potential in the next 5, 10, 15 years of solid growth and becoming a big player in the motorcycle market in these countries, right? So that's the objective.

Chandramouli Muthiah

analyst
#59

Got it. That's super helpful. My second question is on the upcoming sort of 450cc platform launches over the next few years. We've historically been a company that's been a very good upgrade option for users from other brands. And then over time, we've graduated into offering upgrade options for our own customers from 350 to 650, and now we have a more affordable upgrade option, which will start coming through in terms of more 450cc products. So I just wanted to understand what are some of the dynamics in 350 to 450cc upgrading strategy that we have for our customers? And any early learnings or insights from Himalayan 450 that we've launched a few months back?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#60

Himalayan 450 is a motorcycle, which is adventure, yet you can use it for your usage type of a motorcycle ride, it's indexed in that. So it's not for every one, but anyone who likes a bit of an adventure also will enjoy that motorcycle. So that's where the positioning of that motorcycle that will continue. But on the 450cc platform, the new products, which we are planning soon, which will be launched soon, that all will actually help us in the upgrade and also getting the new customers.

Basudeb Banerjee

analyst
#61

Next question is from Mumuksh Mandlesha.

Mumuksh Mandlesha

analyst
#62

So firstly, one for the Vinod sir. Industry CV demand has been muted for some times. So how are basically the profitability of the fleet operators? And how is generally the discounting trend in the market?

Vinod Aggarwal

executive
#63

The industry in quarter 4 this year has been a little bit subdued. One of the strong reason is that last year, in Q4, there was some prebuying. So a lot of -- you can say there was some shift from this year's industry to that last year's quarter 4 because of OBD-II norms, which became applicable from April 1, 2023. Because of that, this quarter looked a bit of weak as compared to the previous year quarter 4. But fundamentally, there is no other reason why the industry should be lower. And the other, of course, the second fundamental reason could be the elections, which are currently going on. And a lot of government machinery is busy on the election side, therefore, no new projects or no new -- the payments are slow in getting released. So that is the second reason. As far as the transporter profitability is concerned, I don't see any concern there. Transporters are doing well, and they have got good demand, and they have got good basically, the business. But they're -- right now, they are not buying because sometimes, they also have the experience that during the election time when they buy vehicles, sometimes those are also taken by the various politicians for the campaigns or for various other types of purposes. So they don't want to -- some of the first-time users, they become a little bit more cautious. So therefore, you will see a lot of action after the new government is in place.

Mumuksh Mandlesha

analyst
#64

Understood, sir. Very helpful. Sir, on the -- this is for Govind sir, on the exports market, we now have 5 assembly plants globally. I just want to understand what kind of capacity for these plants are there? And what would be the current volumes from these markets? Just want to understand more on how big are this middle motorcycle segment market in these 5 regions? And what kind of [indiscernible] volumes they are looking over the medium term?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#65

On the CKD plants, majority is local content and a vehicle assembly line. And all those areas, as of now, we have mandate for 1 shift. That's how it is. So there is a potential for us to run 2 more shifts to add to that, if the capacity is available. When the market opens up, we can invest a bit more into this. So that's not a major problem for us basically. Because that's not a big manufacturing plants where the capital intensive types it's only an assembly line extension, which is possible for us to do within a 2 months time window.

Mumuksh Mandlesha

analyst
#66

And just on the market potential in these 5 markets?

B. Govindarajan

executive
#67

I don't have an exact number to be honest, maybe we can share it with you only in these markets, what's the numbers and where are we seeing it.

Basudeb Banerjee

analyst
#68

Thanks. That was the last question. So for any follow-up questions or unanswered questions, please reach out to the Investor Relations team of Eicher Motors Limited. I'd like to hand over the call to the senior management for closing comments. Over to you, Siddhartha.

Siddhartha Lal

executive
#69

Well, thank you all very much for attending, and we're looking forward to talking to you next quarter. Thank you very much.

B. Govindarajan

executive
#70

Thank you very much.

Basudeb Banerjee

analyst
#71

Thank you, all. We can conclude the call here. Thanks.

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