Bajaj Auto fires on all cylinders in Q3 FY2021, in India and exports

Pune-based Bajaj Auto is on a roll, both in the domestic and export markets. The company has released its Q3 FY2021 (October-December 2020) numbers and would have reason to be pleased with its performance.

The company sold a total of 585,469 motorcycles in Q3 FY2021 in India, which constitutes 8% year-on-year growth (Q3 FY2020: 542,978). On the export front, Bajaj Auto notched handsome 26% YoY growth by shipping 608,398 units (Q3 FY2020: 484,183). Combine the two and what you get is total sales of 1,193,867 units which marks solid 16% YoY growth for two-wheelers in October-December 2020 period (Q3 FY2020: 1,027,161).

The two motorcycle brands that shone in this period are the Pulsar, which sold over 420,000 units in India and abroad – its highest ever in the third quarter of a fiscal, and the Boxer, which notched over 380,000 unit sales overseas, again the highest ever for the company.

Not surprisingly, market share is also growing. According to Bajaj, its overall share in the Indian motorcycle market was 18.6% in Q3 FY2021 compared to 17.5% in Q2 FY2021 and 18.5% in FY2020.  

Domestic two-wheelers continued to grow on the back of robust demand for the Pulsar, Dominar, KTM and Husqvarna. The Pulsar 125 witnessed strong traction with sales of over 164,000 units, which marks growth of 32% over Q2 / FY2021. Market share for the Pulsar 125 in its segment has grown to 22.8% for Q3 / FY2021.

The third quarter of the ongoing fiscal year saw Bajaj Auto sign an MoU with the government of Maharashtra to set up a new manufacturing facility at Chakan, Maharashtra for the manufacture of high-end motorcycles and electric vehicles, at proposed investment of Rs 650 crore. This new facility is expected to commence production in the year 2023.

Over 1.2 million bikes exported in April-December 2020
Bajaj Auto, which was recently crowned the most valuable two-wheeler company in the world, is exporting with a vengeance. In the first nine months of FY2021 (April-December 2020), the company shipped a total of 12,36,617 units. This despite a shortage of shipping containers, which has affected all industry and not just automotive. While this total  is 12.84% down on its year-ago exports, the performance is commendable considerable most global markets have been adversely impacted by Covid-induced lockdowns and resultant loss of sales.

The importance of Bajaj Auto to the overall Indian two-wheeler industry’s performance can be gleaned from the fact that the company accounts for 57% of total Indian OEM shipments of 21,72,015 units (-19%) in the period under review  (see table below).

The No. 2 two-wheeler exporter is TVS Motor Co with 479,941 units (-6.86%), followed by Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India with 139,725 units (-44%) and India Yamaha Motor, with 119,471 units (-50%).

For Bajaj Auto, the bulk of the exports are from the Boxer, CT, Discover and Platina which together account for 699,117 units or 56% of total exports for the company.