MyTVS to enter Middle East, plans foray into CV service business

TVS Automobile Solutions Ltd (TASL), a subsidiary of TVS & Sons and one of the largest players in the automotive aftermarket segment, is entering the Middle East market. Operating under the MyTVS brand name, it is making a foray into the commercial vehicle fleet maintenance business. It will handle the servicing and maintenance requirements of a large vehicle fleet belonging to a Saudi Arabia-based group.

In an exclusive interaction with Autocar Professional, Sanjay Nigam, president and CEO, TVS Automobile Solutions, said, “We have signed an MoU with a large fleet operator in Saudi Arabia last month and are in the process of starting operations in August. Around 150 people will start working on this project.”

With this operation, MyTVS is adding the CV fleet servicing business to its gamut of services. Under the service arrangement with the Saudi Arabia-based group which operates a sizeable fleet of vehicles, MyTVS will handle the fleet maintenance. Initially, only a small part of the fleet will be serviced to understand the local market and establish the service standard. Gradually, it will take over maintenance for the entire fleet. “Once this established, we will form a JV and grow into more business there,” said Nigam.

Explaining the company’s latest move to enter the CV service space, Nigam said, “This is a logical expansion for us in terms of geographical reach and each vertical supporting the other and leveraging on our Group’s core competences. We are already handling services of cars and now moving to commercial vehicles.”

Similarly, the company is exploring an opportunity to enter the CV servicing business in the domestic market. According to Nigam, the company is in talks with 14-15 large fleet operators in India and expects to bring 2-3 customers on board soon.

The CV servicing business includes providing full service and maintenance back-up to fleet operators right from arranging parts, training of manpower and a breakdown service, among other things. TASL’s aim is to take away the maintenance and servicing operation from fleet operators, so that they can focus on his core competence of managing and running the fleet.

“I would like to have two clients in Middle East and 2-3 clients in India through this new business as serving these many clients would be a huge task in terms of resources, bandwidth and investment,” added Nigam.

At present in India, MyTVS has the largest scale of offerings in automobile with a varied range of car services, 24x7 emergency roadside assistance, extended warranty, telematics, tools and garages, insurance broking and petrol network stations with a pan-India network of 75 workshops, two international and three Indian JVs, two Indian subsidiaries, international partners for sourcing and technology, authorised service provider for leading automobiles OEMs and insurance companies. 

Photograph: Sanjay Nigam, president and CEO, TVS Automobile Solutions