Re fall to benefit Ashok Leyland

Re fall to benefit Ashok Leyland
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

AUGUST 11: Leading commercial vehicle manufacturer Ashok Leyland on Friday said the company will benefit from the slide in the value of the Indian rupee against the US dollar as it is a net exporter.

"Rupee depreciation will have a positive impact on the company's financial position as it is a net exporter of vehicles," Managing Director of Ashok Leyland, R Seshasayee told newsmen here.

The company had registered an 11.5 per cent exports growth and it sold 437 commercial vehicles in the global market in the first quarter of the current fiscal as against 392 units in the same period of the previous year.

Stating that the company recorded losses in the first quarter of the current financial year, Seshasayee said Leyland was expecting a sales growth of about eight to ten per cent during 2000-01 against the industry's expected growth of about five per cent.

Recent hike in sales tax was one of the reasons for the poor performance of the industry in the first quarter, he said adding the situation was likely to improve in the remaining months of the current fiscal.

Ashok Leyland had recorded a four per cent decline in sales of commercial vehicles to 6,440 units in April-June of 2000-01 compared to 6,710 units in the same quarter of 1999-2000.

Company's medium and heavy commercial vehicles (M&HCVs) sales dipped by 4.9 per cent to 6,341 units in the first quarter of the current financial year from 6,665 units in the comparable period of the last fiscal.

However, sales of its light commercial vehicles (LCVs) were up by 122 per cent to 100 vehicles in the first three months of 2000-01 from just 45 vehicles in the corresponding period a year ago.

The month of June 2000 was quite good for the company as it posted a five per cent increase in sales of commercial vehicles to 2,749 units from 2,613 units in the same month of 1999.