Corona Bus, the monocoque expert in India, is on the fast track, having bagged sizeable orders last year and with an array of new orders to be executed, even as it expands into its massive new facility in Hyderabad. The Pune-based company is betting big on schemes such as JnNURM II and Smart Cities to be able to showcase its unique capabilities in the public transportation sector. Mr. Pranav Desai, Business Head, Corona Bus Mfg. Pvt. Ltd., reveals plan details.
Excerpts:
Business in 2014
Business was quite encouraging in terms of new projects. We won (1) Chandigarh: 650 mm, 12 m, 160 buses (70 AC + 90 Non AC) – city buses worth approx. Rs. 85 crores (2) Pune: 900 mm (BRTS application), 18 m (articulated) 25 AC buses worth Rs. 35 crores (3) Goa: 650 mm, 12 m, 17 AC buses worth Rs. 8.5 crores (4) Amritsar: 900 mm (BRTS application), 12 m, 93 AC buses worth Rs. 48 crores. All these projects are under the Urban Bus Specifications (UBS) II scheme.
Major plans for 2015
We have very good order bookings as a result of the excellent job done by our sales and marketing team. Hence 2015 will be more of focusing on executing these orders. We have a total order of nearly 320 buses to be executed. We have already launched a new product – a 650 mm, 12 m bus – and are expanding our capacity near Hyderabad with the plant spread across nearly 16 acres. We are taking fresh initiatives for enhancing our capacities and capabilities.
Expectations from CV industry in 2015
We learn that the new Government will change the ongoing JnNURM scheme with many more supporting elements for the transport sector, especially for public transport. We are quite optimistic to see many constructive elements in the upcoming scheme. Prime Minister Modi has already set the tone for better growth, and I strongly believe that the public transport domain too will witness the same.
Industry policies & developments expected in 2015
• Widespread implementation of JnNURM or any other new policy, with higher allocation of funds compared to the last scheme, i.e., Rs. 14,000 crores.
• For the CV segment, especially for OEMs like us, financial institutions should take an aggressive approach for extending financial support.
• The Government should increase the expectation benchmark, i.e., more advanced features should be demanded from OEMs and accordingly the price should be raised.
Medium- to long-term outlook
When we compare ourselves closely with China, we see that the percentage of public transport, in India is hardly 8-9% of the total transport, while in China it is more than 30%. In such a scenario, with the prevailing conditions, I am sure that India will see a major boom in the public transport domain in the next 3 to 5 years. Also, the new Government which has not only given stability at the Centre but also replicating similar stories in other parts of the country will certainly boost the confidence in the sector. For instance, initiatives such as creating 100 smart cities will certainly demand smart public transport methods like BRT and smart buses. We are very hopeful of seeing better growth in the coming years compared to the last two years.