Vinod K Dasari, managing director of Ashok Leyland, recently visited Nepal to inaugurate the authorised service centre for Ashok Leyland vehicles established by LT Enterprises, a subsidiary of the IME Group of Nepal. Prahlad Rijal of the Post caught up with Dasari to talk about emerging markets and the company’s strategies. Excerpts:  

How do you perceive Nepal as a market for Ashok Leyland? How have sales been after the IME Group acquired the distributorship?

Nepal is a very important market for us just like other large markets in the Saarc region like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. We have been in those markets for decades and are market leaders. But in Nepal, we previously took a few missteps in choosing our partners which stunted our growth. After a research, we found that long-term vision was necessary besides just exporting vehicles. We found the IME Group to be the most suitable organisation to join hands with. It is very early to say as it has only been a few months since the alliance, but the IME Group has already bagged the award for the fastest sales growth. 

How has the engagement between Ashok Leyland and LT Enterprises been? 

We entered into an upward supply chain partnership with the group in January. Although the distribution facilities were inaugurated on Tuesday, the group has been selling Ashok Leyland vehicles since January and has already sold 500 units. This figure is larger than the total sales we have ever done in Nepal in a full year. 

Tata has a strong grip in Nepal when it comes to commercial vehicles. How will Ashok Leyland be moving forward to gain a larger market share here? 

Our business is considered to be complex, but in reality it is very simple. In our business, nobody makes purchase decisions based on how the vehicle looks. People buy commercial vehicles so that they can make money. First, we must make a product that is better than the competitors’. We are the market leaders in India when it comes to buses. We have competed outside India too and have become a market leader. So product to product, head to head, we believe our products are better in terms of delivering better profitability to our customers. That is why we say, ‘Aapki jeet hamari jeet.’ 

Second, better performance doesn’t ensure consistency. Our products need to perform consistently so that the buyer keeps on making money. We have created strong supply chain partnerships to ensure consistent performance.    

Greener and fuel-efficient vehicles is the new buzz. What is Ashok Leyland doing in this regard? 

In this regard, we are one of the world’s largest manufacturers of electric and hybrid vehicles through our UK subsidiary Optare. We have introduced compressed natural gas (CNG) buses in India. We also manufacture fuel-efficient buses like low-step buses, two-step and one-step flat-floor buses because this is the requirement of emerging markets. We know the road, load, passenger and fuel conditions of our markets and spend 2.5 percent of our total sales on research and development to make and deliver products as per the requirements. 

Tell us about your global market. How has it been growing?

We have a presence in six key economic regions—Saarc, Middle East, Africa, Commonwealth of Independent States, Asean and Latin America. These markets are like Indian markets. In each of these regions, we have anchor markets like Kenya and Ivory Coast in Africa, and Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and Nepal in the Saarc region. We are committed to investing in facilities, land and building to consolidate our presence in all the regions. We aim to be a market leader, not immediately, but in the near future.