Rinder India bags Hero MotoCorp mandate for lighting products

January 15, 2014: The Chakan-based Rinder India, the wholly-owned subsidiary of Spanish lighting major Rinder, has bagged business from India’s biggest two-wheeler manufacturer, Hero MotoCorp.

In an exclusive interview to Autocar Professional, S A Latif, managing director, said the company is working on six new projects for Hero MotoCorp which includes two premium and four executive segment products.

Rinder India will be supplying lighting sets, estimated at 2,000 sets a day, to Hero MotoCorp for the three executive segment motorcycles that are likely to be showcased at the Auto Expo 2014 to be held in New Delhi next month.

According to Latif, Rinder India has also bagged a slew of new projects from Bajaj Auto, which include supplies incorporating the latest headlamp technology for three premium and two executive segment products. Incidentally, Bajaj Auto is Rinder’s biggest customers.

Latif also said that Rinder has bagged projects from TVS Motor, Royal Enfield, Suzuki Motorcycle India, Mahindra Two Wheelers and Triumph Motorcycles, the UK-based luxury motorcycle manufacturer. Triumph recently showcased the 10 bikes it plans to launch in India. The company, which is building a plant at Narsapur in Karnataka, plans to localise its products and is slated to manufacture two bikes for the Indian market in 2015.

With business from Bajaj Auto and India Yamaha Motor already in its kitty, Rinder now has business from all the major two-wheeler manufacturers in the country.

On the exports front, Rinder India will be exporting its products to Kawasaki in Japan, Thailand and Indonesia. It will also export to Piaggio in Italy and Vietnam and to Peugeot two-wheelers in France. In order to cater to Rinder’s overseas business, the company plans to set up a local assembly line in Brazil where it will supply lighting products to Indian companies that have forayed into markets in Latin America. The company already has a local assembly setup in Colombia.

Rinder India has expanded its capacity by 50 percent at its Chakan plant to cater to the increased business. The company has a second unit in the Pune region and a third at Ballabhgarh in north India.

BRIAN DE SOUZA

Photograph: S A Latif, managing director, Rinder India.