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Vijay C Roy
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, December 8
The severe cash crunch post-demonetisation has hit the sales of bicycle industry. In November, sales have declined by 25 to 30%. Bicycle manufacturers, including Hero and Avon, said the sales would be affected in December as well as the entire country was grappling with cash shortage.
Currently, India produces 18 million bicycles per annum. Punjab accounts for 92% of the country’s total production of bicycle parts and 75% of bicycle production.
“The bicycle industry has registered a growth of 5% during the period April-October 2016. Due to cash crunch post-demonetisation, the sales have declined by 30% in November. We expect the same trend to continue for few more months,” said Pankaj Munjal, Chairman and Managing Director, Hero Cycles. He was in the city today to attend the inaugural session of ‘The Bicycle ExCon 2016’, organised by CII in collaboration with the All India Cycle Manufacturers Association, Punjab and Chandigarh.
Echoing similar sentiments, Rishi Pahwa, Joint MD, Avon Cycles, said, “In the past one month, the industry witnessed a decline of 25-30% in sales. December is a crucial month for us and we expect the industry will bounce back in January.”
To boost the cycle industry, Munjal said, “The government should waive taxes on bicycles costing less than Rs 5,000 as these are purchased by people belonging to low-income group. It is recommended that the Ministry of Urban Development ensures the provision of cycling infrastructure in cities by making the provision of NMT (non-motorised transport) infrastructure mandatory such as in Noida.”
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