State off the track for Hero Cycles’ world-class unit

Ruchika M Khanna

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, February 22

One of the state’s biggest industrial houses, Hero Cycles, will be setting up the world’s biggest bicycle manufacturing plant either in Haryana or Gujarat.

It will have an annual capacity of 8 million units, scalable up to 12 million units.

The company that was at the forefront of industrialisation in Punjab says proximity to the port and the National Capital coupled with incentives offered by other states has led them mull setting up the new project outside Punjab.

Talking to The Tribune, Pankaj Munjal, chairman, Hero Cycles, said: “We have had meetings with the Punjab government functionaries, but we realised that the eco-system for setting up a high-end bicycle manufacturing plant is not there in Punjab. The location is also dependant on the needs of customers and other stakeholders.”

The company is aggressively working on the plan and is scouting destinations in Haryana, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh for setting up the facility.

The plan is to set up a huge supplier and logistics park in line with the bicycle manufacturer’s need to feed a growing global presence and demand. “This single largest facility under one roof for manufacturing a complete range of standard, semi-premium and technologically-advanced premium cycles will redefine the Indian cycle industry. In the first phase, we are investing Rs250 crore in this calendar year,” Munjal said.

“We are on an expansion mode and are making inroads in new markets. Fuelling this global expansion is a spree of takeovers in Europe and South East Asia. We are working on creating an integrated manufacturing facility by partnering with technology giants across the globe, including from Taiwan, Europe and the US, who will be part of the cycle valley being envisaged by us,” he added.