New venture

New Delhi, July 7: Inverter manufacturer Luminous Power Technologies, part of the SAR group, will foray into the electric scooter segment later this year.

“We will launch two models in September this year. Plans are afoot to launch about four models in the next two years. For us, this business is a natural extension to a growing segment,” Rakesh Malhotra, managing director, Luminous Power told The Telegraph.

The four models will be priced between Rs 20,000 and Rs 45,000. The company is building a manufacturing facility with 3,000 units per month capacity but hopes to sell 15,000-20,000 units in the first year of operation.

The SAR group, promoters of Luminous Power, is setting up the plant for the electric scooters in Himachal Pradesh at an initial investment of $10 million.

“We expect to triple our revenue to Rs 1,500 crore by 2011-12. We should close the financial year with Rs 600 crore,” Malhotra said. The company posted a turnover of Rs 425 crore in 2007-08.

The company has outlined a capital expenditure plan of Rs 200 crore by 2011-12, and the group is well capitalised till 2010, he added.

Electric two-wheelers, a new category in India, is seeing good growth. According to a 2006 survey by AC Neilsen, the potential of electric vehicles for 2007-08 is around 200,000 units and is projected to grow to 490,000 units in 2008-09.

Manufacturers are hopeful that the 15 per cent subsidy announced recently on the price of electric vehicles along with the abolition of the 12.5 per cent value-added tax in Delhi, Chhattisgarh and Chandigarh will boost sales. This comes on the back of an excise duty cut to nil from 8.24 per cent announced in this year’s budget.

Last year, about 1 lakh electric scooters were sold in the country, comprising about 10 per cent of the total scooter or moped sales of 1 million. However, with fuel prices constantly going up, the manufacturers of electric vehicles are hopeful of increasing their sales.

Ultra Motors, which sold 22,000 units in 2007, is aiming to sell 60,000 units this year. Hero Motors, which began operation this year, has an ambitious sales target of 72,000 units for the current fiscal.