Africa and Sri Lanka emerging as Hero’s largest export markets

Since its split with Honda, Hero MotoCorp has been aggressively expanding its footprint across the globe. Within the last two years, the company has set up shop in over 22 countries, with Africa and Sri Lanka slowly emerging as Hero MotoCorp’s largest export markets. 

Speaking to ET, Mr Pawan Munjal, MD and CEO of Hero MotoCorp said, "Sri Lanka has been a very big market for us. In recent times, we have seen some large volumes out of that market. Outside of the subcontinent, African markets have also been volume drivers for us."

The company currently has three operational production facilities in India, while the fourth one’s construction is expected to commence soon. The combined capacity of its plants in India will soon touch 76.5 lakh units, which will go up considerably once the Gujarat and the plant in South India becomes operational. By 2020, Hero MotoCorp has set a target of clocking 12 lakh units in global sales and its rapid expansion in global markets are a part of its achieving this target. 

Hero MotoCorp is in the process of setting up two overseas manufacturing plants in Colombia and Bangladesh, which are expected to become operational in the next two years. In the meantime, the company will also make its foray into Europe by 2015 and the US and Brazilian markets by 2016. According to the company’s predictions, over 10 per cent of its sales will come from the overseas markets.