PUTTING A PREMIUM ON PREMIUM

Yamaha Motor India has turned around in the last couple of years by betting big on offering premium two-wheelers. Its new chairman, Eishin Chihana is now aiming to double the India revenue

- Ashish Sinha

EISHIN CHIHANA is a man on a mission. Since taking charge as chairman of Yamaha Motor India in November last year, he has criss-crossed several states, towns, districts and villages with a single-minded focus. He wants to understand the needs and requirements of the diverse Indian population with regard to mobility, particularly two-wheelers. Of course, he has been tasked with making the India operations continuously profitable on a quarterly basis. The bigger aim is to more than double the turnover of Yamaha Motor India in the next five years. A stiff target indeed, but he is confident of achieving that.

Yamaha is an important player in the Indian two-wheeler market. It is, in fact, a leading exporter of ‘Made in India’ bikes and scooters. In the domestic market, it just crossed the Rs 7,000-crore-mark in revenue, generating a small operational profit, industry insiders say. This has been made possible by shifting focus from the mass market two-wheelers to more premium offerings.

Yamaha Motor made its initial foray into India in 1985 as a joint venture with Escorts. In August 2001, it became a 100 per cent subsidiary of Yamaha Motor Japan (YMC). In 2008, Mitsui & Co. entered into an agreement with YMC to become a joint investor in India Yamaha Motor (IYM). IYM makes its bikes and scooters at its two state-of-the-art plants at Surajpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Kanchipuram (Tamil Nadu).