Riding high on the government's move towards making usage of helmet compulsory, leading helment manufacturer Steelbird today announced that it has witnessed a robust sales growth in Q1 FY2020, selling 900,000 units, a growth of 80 percent YoY.
The company says the recent notifications by the government to improve the safety measures on road has helped the retail market for ISI-branded helmets in getting mature. Commenting on the growth, Rajeev Kapur, MD, Steelbird Helmets said: “The estimated demand for helmets is around 100 million pieces per annum and the good news is that the gap is being filled by those players who are conforming to the BIS norms, since after the enforcement of compulsory certification, manufacturing of any kind of two wheeler helmet not conforming to IS 4151:2015 will be an offence."
"Also recently, the transport commissioners of Tamil Nadu and Madhya Pradesh instructed the two wheeler manufacturers and dealerships to make helmets mandatory on purchase of new two wheelers for the rider as well as the pillion. While our sales soaring up, we are investing a lot on R&D to develop new products to meet the BIS norms and customer requirements covering the entire spectrum.” added Kapur.
The company says it is a leading player in the helmet industry and currently has a market share of around 38 percent. It has three manufacturing plants and a capacity to produce 22,000 helmets a day. Moreover, the company recently announced fresh investment of Rs 150 crore that will help it increase its production capacity to 44,500 helmets per day.
“Steelbird is constantly upgrading and in sync with the international standard and design as we have our designing and R&D team both in Italy and India. We are proud to add a whole new model range and add variants to existing series therefore expanding the option horizon for the riders. While committing to meet the protection needs we will also be laying emphasis on style and comfort. Our motive is to cover complete business pyramid which means mass customer to premium customer and the pricing will vary from Rs 899 to highest range which is Rs. 12,999,” added Kapur.