Bajaj Auto Q1 PAT up a tad at Rs 1,126 crore

Bajaj Auto on Friday reported a 1% Y-o-Y increase in its profit after tax (PAT) to Rs 1,126 crore for the quarter ended June 30. There was a 27% Y-o-Y rise in other income to Rs 441.25 crore that aided the growth in PAT. Bajaj Auto’s profit before tax fell 2% to Rs 1,579 crore. Total turnover grew 5% to Rs 8,197 crore while revenue from operations was up 4% to Rs 7,756 crore. The Ebitda got reduced by 9% to Rs 1,250 crore while the Ebitda margin contracted by 250 basis points Y-o-Y to 16.1%.

The company ended Q1FY20 with an 18.3% market share. Volumes went up by 2% during the quarter, driven by the growth in the domestic motorcycle segment. The company also recorded the highest-ever exports of 5,50,021 units during the quarter.

Rajiv Bajaj, MD, said these were tough times for the industry and the crisis was unprecedented. He announced that Bajaj Auto was ready with electric vehicles. “We will be in the market very soon,” Bajaj said. “We will not be allow ourselves to be disrupted by government policy or be frustrated.” There is no clarity on this matter as the last two years witnessed a lot of flip-flops in the government policy and as a company they were confused, Bajaj said.

Rakesh Sharma, ED, said both two- and three-wheeler EVs are being testing in Pune. The company may first launch an EV two-wheeler, to be followed by three-wheelers. An electric Qute is also among the plans. The Bajaj R&D is collaborating with KTM for high-end electric vehicles, he said. The company is also ready with the BS VI vehicles which could be launched in the last quarter of this fiscal, Sharma said.

During the quarter under review, total motorcycle sales grew 5% to 10.82 lakh units with domestic market sale at 6.10 lakh units and exports at 4.71 lakh units. CV sales declined 16% to 1.64 lakh units. Domestic market sales fell 8% to 86,217 units while CV exports were down by 23% to 78,330 units.

Bajaj Auto Limited