Ceekay in expansion mode

The Rs 118 crore Ceekay Daikin, a joint venture between the Ceekay group and Exedy Corporation of Japan, is investing Rs 20 crore towards capacity expansion. A major part of this investment has been earmarked for the Greater Noida plant in Uttar Pradesh while the balance will go to Aurangabad.

Mumbai-based Ceekay, which makes clutch discs and clutch cover assemblies for major OEMs, sold Rs 1.5 crore worth of kits and components in 2005-06. In volume terms, it sold over a million clutch disc and nine lakh cover assemblies. The company’s Aurangabad facility has a capacity of one million disc and six lakh clutch cover assemblies. The Greater Noida unit can produce five lakh disc and cover assemblies each. The two plants produced more than one million disc assemblies and 8.5 lakh cover assemblies in 2005-06.

“We plan to manufacture 1.1 million clutch discs and 9.5 lakh to one million clutch cover assemblies this year,” Mahesh Kothari, chairman and managing director, told Autocar Professional. Over the next three years, Ceekay aims to produce 1.75 million clutch discs and about 1.6 million cover assemblies. The company supplies to almost all major OEMs in India. The domestic market accounts for almost 97 percent of business. Its clutch discs and covers are fitted onto cars as well as light and medium commercial vehicles.

The customer list includes Maruti Udyog, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher Motors, General Motors India, Toyota Kirloskar Motor, Honda Siel, Swaraj Mazda and others. It also meets the needs of Bajaj Auto and M&M in the three-wheeler segment. “We have 50 percent share in Maruti and have also stabilised our supplies for Toyota (Innova) and General Motors India for the Tavera,” Kothari said.

Ceekay, he added, has started despatches to the WagonR and WagonR Duo. It will also provide clutch sets for the new Maruti Zen and another model replacing the Baleno. The company supplies 4,000-4,500 clutch sets each month for the Innova and 1,800 clutch sets for the Tavera. Talks are at an advanced stage with Tata Motors for meeting the needs of the Ace mini pickup.

There is no intention to give a fillip to exports. “We are in a propriety item business. The major export market is the US where there are automatic transmissions in cars and LCVs. The fact also remains that our collaborators have plants worldwide,” he explained. India’s buoyant auto industry has helped Ceekay grow over 20 percent year lately with turnover rising from Rs 78.4 crore in 2003-04 to almost Rs 95 crore in 2004-05. The target for this fiscal is Rs 125 crore. “These are exciting times,” Kothari said.