Mr. Pankaj Munjal of Hero Cycles joins as the president of All India Cycle Manufacturers’ Association (AICMA)

Mr. Pankaj Munjal, Co-Chairman and Managing Director, Hero Cycles, addressed the media on the occasion of his joining as the president of All India Cycle Manufacturer's Association (AICMA). He replaced Mr. Arun Alagappan as the president of AICMA and took over his responsibilities on 23 February 2012. His presidential tenure at AICMA is for 1 year. Speaking on the occasion Mr. Munjal said, “It is a great honour to take over as the president of AICMA. Since its inception in 1984, AICMA has been instrumental in bringing in lot of positive changes for the Indian bicycle industry. As president, my endeavor would be to bring about sustained growth of the bicycle industry both in domestic as well as in export sectors.”

He spoke to the media in the city regarding his plans ahead to accomplish his mission of having sustained growth of the bicycle industry and his outlook on the industry; its trends, challenges along with some probable solutions “The bicycle business is about 130 million units in size and $30 billion in value in terms of market worldwide. However, In India we are merely a $1.2 billion market only which is just 4% in terms of value in the world trade. There seems to be some fundamental fallacy which needs to be addressed here, the tax structure. There is 12% tax on bicycle which is an item of basic necessity for economic class and that too a medium which brings him economic progress” he further added stressing on the point that as a president of AICMA he will stress on the reform of the tax structure.

Mr. Munjal also spoke about a host of other issues. He said that the waiver could foster the expansion of the cycle market that stands at about 15 million units annually now as compared to 80 million units in China.  Additionally, by making the sector duty-free and equalizing the freight charges across India; the exports of premium cycles could also increase up to $5 billion every year from about $200 million at present. He also said that there is a need to match the duty drawback norm and freight subsidization in line with China. The aim would be to nurture a $2 billion export market. Moreover, like the automobile cluster there is a call for to work together, to upgrade the technology of suppliers with the help of Institutions like QCFI. Realizing that India still has 500 million people who cannot afford a cycle, it was suggested that the bicycle industry should be excluded from the GST.