ACTIVA 2 LAST(BCM5)

It may be noted that the Activa has been steadily It may be noted that the Activa has been steadilynarrowing its gap with the Splendor since March 2014, when ittrailed by 1,92,096 units against the Hero brand, which morethan halved to 80,170 units in 2015 when it sold 2,409,166units against Splendor’s 2,489,336 units. In 2014, the cumulative Activa sales stood at1,085,835 units against 2,277,931 units of the Splendor, thecompany said. During the first seven months of 2016, cumulative leadof the Activa over Splendor stood at 1,62,703 units at1,594,188, while that of the Hero brand stood at 1,431,485. Guleria is confident that from next month, when theGujarat facility will reach its full 1.2 million capacity, thecompany will be able to eliminate order backlogs which sinceMay has come down to 18,000 units a month from over 26,000. "Looking at the increasing demand coming in from ruralmarkets, I think we will be easily able to close the year withover 24 per cent spike in scooter sales, which currently istrending at 24 per cent," he said, adding the normal monsoonsshould help the company achieve this target along withincreased deliveries, especially to the hinterlands markets. At the beginning of the year, HMSI had set an over 22per cent sales growth target for the year. Guleria, however, was quick to add that during theforthcoming festival season, the huge lead that the Activa hasseen now may narrow. But he is confident that the overalllead will be maintained. Despite the good show, Activa’s market share remainedflat at 59 per cent in the scooters space in July as themarket too clipped 24 per cent, which was at the same growthrate of HMSI as well, Guleria said. He, however, said the overall share of the scooters inthe two-wheeler industry rose to 31 per cent in July from 28per cent a year ago. When asked about the festival sales plans beginningnext month with Onam in Kerala, he said, the company will beholding loan melas under which its partnering banks willwaive processing fees. PTI BEN ARS JMMKJJMF