Hero Cycles Ltd co-chairperson Pankaj Munjal at the event on Friday. Picture by Deepak Kumar

Bicycles manufactured in Bihar could soon be seen on the streets of Burma, Bangladesh and also some Southeast Asian countries.

While laying the foundation stone of the manufacturing unit of Hero Cycles Ltd, Pankaj Munjal, the co-chairman-cum-managing director of the company, said: “The location of our manufacturing unit in Bihta (37km southwest of Patna) is a dream location. It is very close to the Haldia port in Bengal.”

Haldia is 680km south of Patna. It takes around nine hours to reach the port from the Bihar capital. The proximity to one of east India’s largest ports could boost export of cycles from this unit.

“With Calcutta and Haldia ports located not very far away, Hero cycles would be exported to south and southeast Asia from this unit,” said Munjal.

Besides Haldia and Calcutta, plans are afoot to develop a dry port at Bihta, which would also benefit the unit. He added that the market in the Northeast states would also be easily accessible from the unit.

Munjal said the plant, being built at a cost of Rs 40 crore, would start manufacturing from April next year. The construction of the plant is expected to start within four weeks. It would manufacture over a million cycles every year.

The senior executive of Hero Cycles spoke at length about the plans for the new unit — the third for the company. Initially, the products would be sent to the large markets in Bihar and Jharkhand. In the second phase, the unit would meet the demands from neighbouring states like Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Bengal. “This market is critical for us. East India accounts for nearly 30 per cent of the bicycle market. Hero Cycles is the market leader with a 53 per cent share in east India and a 64 per cent share in Bihar,” said Munjal.

He also elaborated on the plan to export the products.

“It would be possible to export cycles to south Asian countries through Calcutta and Haldia ports at less freight costs,” said Munjal.

Industries minister Renu Kumari and senior officials of the department, including principal secretary Naveen Verma, were present during the ceremony on Friday.