KOLKATA: Automobile major Ashok Leyland, the flagship firm of the Hinduja Group in India, is betting big on various infrastructure projects coming up in the eastern part of the country for its medium and heavy commercial vehicles (MHCV) category, a senior company official said on Tuesday.

In the MHCV segment, the industry growth was 48 per cent in the last financial year, while the company grew 78 per cent with a market share of 30.6 per cent nationally, and 25 per cent in the east comprising the states of West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand and the north-east, he said.

"East is very important for Ashok Leyland. With numerous infrastructure projects in the pipeline, the eastern region offers a good opportunity for the MHCV segment of the company.

Besides this, the national logistics policy also provides a major impetus for the commercial vehicles (CV) segment. Policies of the government are favouring the CV industry of the country", Sanjeev Kumar, president (MHCV) of Ashok Leyland, told reporters here.

Ashok Leyland will be investing around Rs 500 crore to Rs 700 crore in alternate fuel technologies and debottlenecking at its plants located in various places like Chennai, Pantnagar, and Hosur among others in India and several overseas.

"Debottlenecking of the plant will be done to increase operational efficiencies.

The company is also bullish on alternate fuel technology like hydrogen and CNG which is built on the internal combustion engine (ICE) platform", he said.

To expand the portfolio, the company will launch a plethora of new products in the medium and heavy commercial vehicle (MHCV) segment this financial year, including six buses and nine trucks.

The MHCV segment is categorised as gross vehicle weight (GVW) between 7.5 tonnes and 55 tonnes.

"Ashok Leyland is expecting to register a growth of eight to ten per cent in sales from the MHCV category, which does not include the figures for sales of electric buses," Kumar said.

"This growth will be driven by new launches and expansion of the dealership network", he added.

Courtesy: The New Indian Express