With
the government clamping down on makers of unbranded non ISI helmets and
penalising those either not wearing helmets or wearing unbranded helmets, sale
of branded helmets is now seeing an upward trend. Leading helmet maker
Steelbird Helmets has recorded a 80 per cent growth in helmet sales for the
first quarter of this year.
Steelbird
Helmets has in the first quarter of this fiscal recorded sale of 9 lakh
helmets, compared to a little over 5 lakh helmets in the corresponding period
last year.
“The
estimated demand for helmets is around 100 million pieces per annum and the
good news is that the gap is being filled by those players who are conforming
to the BIS norms, since after the enforcement of compulsory certification,
manufacturing of any kind of two wheeler helmet not conforming to IS 4151:2015
will be an offence,” said Rajeev Kapur, MD, Steelbird Helmets .
He
also pointed out that recently the transport commissioners of Tamil Nadu and
Madhya Pradesh had instructed the two wheeler manufacturers and dealerships to
make helmets mandatory on the purchase of new two wheelers for the rider as
well as the pillion. “While our sales
are soaring up, we are investing a lot on R&D to develop new products to
meet the BIS norms and customer requirements covering the entire
spectrum,” he said.
Steelbird
is currently enjoys approx 38 per cent market share in the Indian helmet
industry. The company has three state of art plants and a manufacturing
capacity of 22,000 helmets a day. The production capacity is now being
increased and will be able to manufacture 44,500 helmets per day. Looking at the growing demand for its
helmets, Steelbird plans to come up with the biggest helmet plant of the world
in an endeavor to help do away with existing sub standard products.
“Steelbird
is constantly upgrading and is in sync with the international standard and
design as we have our designing and R&D team both in Italy and India. We
are proud to add a whole new model range and add variants to existing series
therefore expanding the option horizon for the riders. While committing to meet
the protection needs we will also be laying emphasis on style and comfort. Our
motive is to cover complete business pyramid which means mass customer to
premium customer and the pricing will vary from Rs. 899/- to highest range which is Rs. 12,999/-, ” added
Kapur.
At
present, Steelbird has a pan India presence with dealer and distributor network
across the country. Directly the brand is associated with 2000 + dealers/
distributors pan India and more than 10,000 retailers indirectly. For the
company, tier 2 and tier 3 cities are the main focus areas for complete
coverage and growth in India. Globally, it plans to increase presence in South
Asian countries, Gulf and Africa as these are emerging markets with lot of
potential for helmets.
According
to the Motor Vehicle Act, while riding two wheelers, wearing a helmet is
mandatory pan India but most of the riders do not wear helmets and still the
sales are going high. Once the rules get stricter and riders start wearing the
head gear, automatically the demand will increase significantly, Kapur noted.