Honda Motorcycle and Scooter India to Hike Price by Rs 1,000 Due to BS IV Norms in 2017

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) expects prices of its products across variants to increase between Rs 400-1,000 when the Bharat Stage IV (BS IV) emission norms come into effect in 2017.

"We will update all our models in 2017 as per BS IV norms. With that there will be price hike also in the range of Rs 400 to Rs 1,000 depending upon on which segment that model is available," Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Senior Vice President, Sales & Marketing, HMSI said.

"The price hike will be more for motorcycles and less for scooters but overall the range may not go beyond Rs 1,000 for BS IV," he added.

Guleria said the company's Hornet model already has a BS IV compliant engine and the rest of the models in the line-up will be upgraded to meet the BS IV norms. When asked about expectations for the upcoming festive season, he said the company is "geared up for robust sales". HMSI's Gujarat factory, which manufactures only scooters, has reached its peak capacity of 12 lakh units by August 31, he added.

"Thanks to our Gujarat factory, we have stock for 35 days for the festive season beginning Navratra. We target to sell over 10 lakh scooters and motorcycles till October 31 (April-October)," Guleria said.

The two-wheeler maker is eyeing sales growth of about 20-22 percent this fiscal year. The company has already registered a growth of 21 per cent during April-August 2016-17.

The company is targeting robust sales on the back of good monsoon this season, as well as payouts to government employees as per the 7th Pay Commission. It will offer Rs 2,000 cash benefit to government employees during Navratra to attract more sales. Besides, Guleria said the industry is likely to grow by about 16-18 per cent this fiscal, which is almost five times of last year's growth.

"Till August, the industry growth has gone up to 16 percent. Definitely, September is going to see over 20 per cent growth for the industry. So it means the industry is expected to grow by 16-18 percent, which is almost five times than last year's growth. This is good for the overall industry as last year's growth was merely 3 per cent," Guleria said.