MUMBAI, Aug 6: The Belgaum-based MG Group has set a target of doubling its revenue to over Rs 500 crore this year on the back of the tie-ups sealed with various state transport undertakings, and is also planning to launch its airport coach in January.
“As we have just completed 20 years of operations, we are focusing on contracts from the state transport undertakings (STUs),” Anil Kamat, the managing director of his family-owned MG Group said.
“We’ve already signed with Maharashtra, Andhra, Telangana and Karnataka STUs, which together account for 50 per cent of the national bus volume. These contracts should help us double the revenue to over Rs 500 crore this year,” he said.
So far in the past two decades, the company, which enjoys over 10 per cent of the organised bus body building market pie of around 90,000 units per annum, has built one lakh units. It is already building the Shivsheri brand of buses for Maharashtra State Transport Corporation, he said.
The company has also moved on from being a mere bus body builder to a bus manufacturer with two offerings – the luxury coach bus Mammoth and the tarmac coach Columbus.
It is expecting to commercially launch its first fully-built airport coach bus Columbus by January next, which is fully designed, developed and engineered by the MG Group, Kamath said.
It is the country’s first monocoque/ chasis-less coach bus, he claimed, adding that it is built in tie-up with the Swedish commercial vehicles major Scania.
The company is in talks with airports and airlines both in the country and abroad, Kamath said, adding that his focus will be export markets.
The 44-seater Columbus will be priced almost 50 per cent cheaper than the Cobus from Germany, which costs at least Rs 2 to 3 crore.
The company has also launched the MG branded bus Mammoth last November as a premium luxury coach, which will also be commercially launched shortly. It is already under production for global markets like Africa, Bangladesh, Nepal and the Maldives, he said.
The Mammoth is fully designed and developed by the MG Group. Built on German major MAN’s chassis, the Mammoth is certified by MAN.
Kamath said the annual bus volume is around 90,000, making it the second largest bus market after China. Of this, the MG group enjoys around 10 per cent of the market share.
The MG Group has an annual installed capacity of 16,500 buses at Zaheerabad in Telangana and Belgaum in Karnataka, and since inception in 1996 it has manufactured over 8,000 buses across 25 markets globally for export.
It has multi-year contracts with OEMs like Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, Eicher Motors, Tata Motors & MAN of Germany out of which, except for Tata Motors, the company is the sole contractor, Kamath said, adding that the group employs over 1,100 people. (PTI)
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