Wind energy, farm sector demand to revive post lockdown: Wheels India

The demand for products relating to wind energy and farm sector should revive post lockdown, while that of tippers, construction and equipment industries depends on the infrastructure spending by the Centre, said S. Ram, chairman, Wheels India Ltd. (WIL)

Addressing the 61st Annual General Meeting of WIL, he said the new initiatives made in the supply of welded and machined parts for the wind energy sector and supply of bogie frames to the Indian Railways saw significant growth in the last financial year. The demand for these products should revive post lockdown.

Asserting that the farm sector had performed well so far, he said that with good monsoon rains and government support through higher prices and timely purchase by the Food Corporation of India, the agricultural sector was expected to grow. “These factors will auger well for the agricultural tractor sector, where Wheels India is a major supplier of wheels,” he added.

On the construction and mining equipment industries, he said that globally there was a decline last year and that this segment has been further affected by the lockdown. Its prospects would depend on the extent of infrastructure spend by governments.

Mentioning that the passenger car market saw a decline for the first time in decades in the last financial year and was severely affected by the lockdown, he said it was expected that the market demand could shift to small cars and utility vehicles in the coming year.

Mr. Ram expected the demand for small commercial vehicles to improve post lockdown. The demand for tippers would depend on implementation of infrastructure projects by the government. He said that the demand for buses will only improve once public transportation resumes in and between the cities.

“The financial year will be a difficult one due to declining economies in India and overseas. However, taking a longer term view, we have invested in a cast aluminum wheel factory that will start exports to the U.S. market from September. The demand for the company’s cast aluminum wheels in international markets is expected to improve in the coming year,” he said.

WIL managing director Srivats Ram said that the business was affected during the first 45 days of the Q1 due to COVID-19. “In June, our capacity utilisation was around 42%. Starting Q3 and Q4, we should start seeing a pick-up in business from the current levels,” he added.

Mr. Srivats said that globally the prospects for the wind energy business looked good “We have just started exports to one OEM and will explore more OEMs going forward.”

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