Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Honda India speaks on demand in a post COVID-19 world

Aditya Jhawar, Auto Analyst, Investec India had hosted Mr. Yadvinder Singh Guleria, Director - Sales & Marketing, Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) as part of our Investec Auto Expert series. While the increase in Covid-19 intensity recently has resulted in a slight dip in enquiries, rapid vaccination, continued economic activities and a night-only lockdown could help insulate demand to some extent. Recent uptick in scooters volumes is a reflection of recovery of urban demand. With the encouraging response to H’Ness 350 (sold ~14K units and order backlog of ~1.5 months with a mere 40 touch points since launch in Oct’20), management plans to expand distribution to 100 by FY22 as well as expand capacity. While OEMs have increased prices to offset commodity inflation, considering the demand is still improving, ASP increase could lag uptick in RM prices, as per Honda management. Thus, OEM margins could be under check.