Mr Vikram Mohan Pricol Managing Director Says, Inorganic Growth is the Way Forward

COIMBATORE, India - March 23, 2016 - PRLog -- We recently got in touch with Vikram Mohan, Managing Director, Pricol Limited, in order to understand the company's product roadmap and growth plans.

PRESENT BUSINESS

Pricol Limited is a supplier to almost all OEMs in the country in the two-wheeler, tractors and commercial vehicle segments. In recent times, the company has laid focus on improving the manufacturing capabilities of its facilities and has also enhanced its testing and R&D abilities, which have been aided by some recent international acquisitions as well.

Key product areas for the company include telematics solutions for off-highway and two-wheeler applications. Instrument clusters, fuel-level sensors, cab tilt systems, variable flow oil pumps and centralised lubricating are other key products in production right now. These products highlight the diverse capability of the company's R&D team, allowing for hedging against business exposure to a single product line.

Mohan expects the present and upcoming product areas to yield good growth in the coming years. The company has the requisite technological expertise and manufacturing capability to meet the growing demands of the automotive industry within all product areas it operates in. the demand for automotive components is primarily driven by requirements of the OEMs, which are driven by a dynamic customer demand, he said. Hence, growth prospects are dependent on the economic growth drivers, which seem good for the coming years.

A few recent international acquisitions have gone a long way in expanding the company's product portfolio and geographical footprint. Equipped with this enhanced product capability, Pricol intends to further increase its presence in telematics, and in four-wheeler oil and water pumps, manufacturing capability for which is available in India, Brazil and Indonesia. Growth in the commercial vehicles and off-highway vehicles is expected to be higher, with increase in infrastructure development across India.

On being asked to comment on the two most technically-advanced products categories in the two-wheeler and four-wheeler domains, Mohan said the company offers more than 1,000 product variants across these two vehicle segments. Of these, the top two categories in two-wheelers include fuel pumps (automotive oil pumps, auto fuel clocks and fuel feed pumps), while the second category includes instrument clusters, fuel level sensors and speed sensors. In the four-wheeler area, driver information systems for the Renault Kwid & Mahindra Reva take centre stage alongside automotive oil and water pumps.

GROWTH AREAS

Pricol Limited has a keen focus on expanding its business in the commercial vehicle segment. The company already is India's largest manufacturer of centralised lubrication systems, cab tilt systems and speed governors for commercial vehicles. Within the telematics space too, the company is the country's largest manufacturer for the tractor and off-highway segments. Speaking on the potential of this area, Mohan told us that the telematics sector will gain importance in the country at an incremental pace. With such an expected increase in demand for asset tracking and management of vehicles, Pricol intends to expand its product offering with customisable solutions for every fleet.

FUTURE PLANS

Talking about business expansion, Mohan informed us that Pricol has worked out its Vision 2020 with a plan to increase the consolidated revenue to ' 3,000 cr by FY 2019-20. In line with Vision 2020, Pricol aims to grow inorganically, with a few acquisitions on an investment target of around ' 500 cr. "We wish to acquire one entity each in the USA and Europe, in the automotive pumps and sensors businesses, to widen our product portfolio and reach globally," added Mohan.

The company has also identified Vietnam as a potential location for setting up a Greenfield venture for manufacturing, which is expected to be operational by the year 2017. Mexico has also been identified as a market, which is set to grow and Pricol may look at opportunities in that market by 2018, based on its performance. Aside of the inorganic growth, Pricol believes that its strong technological capabilities and presence in the automotive field for over 40 years will help it to spearhead this Vision 2020 in the coming years, concluded Mohan.

Courtesy : autotechreview

For more details on pricol products visit, http://www.pricol.com