Wheels India to invest Rs 225 crore this year
CHENNAI: Wheels India, which posted a net profit of
Rs 68 crore on revenues of Rs 4,619 crore for the year ended March 31, 2024, has a capex plan of Rs 225 crore this year.
Srivats Ram, MD, Wheels India, said the bottom line should see an improvement this year due to the product mix and efforts taken by the company. “The mix of products should help us improve and sustain the profit,” he said at the 65th AGM of the company.
On the aluminium wheels business, he said the company had produced 25,000 wheels a month and expects this to increase to 40,000 wheels a month this year.
S Ram, chairman, Wheels India, said post the Sundaram Hydraulics Wheels India merger in FY24, the hydraulic cylinder business has grown reasonably and become profitable. “This business is expected to show good growth going forward”, he told the shareholders. The medium and heavy commercial market showed a marginal growth in FY24. There was a significant shift away from multi-axle vehicles towards tractor trailers, he said. The business supplying wheels to the construction equipment industry saw reasonable growth in FY24 with increase in volumes with most customers, he said.
“While the demand for windmill components was muted in FY24, we were able to ramp up production at our plant machining large windmill castings. The plant is now a profitable business that we hope to grow ramping up in line with our casting partner,” Ram said. The company’s export business grew considerably in FY24, up 24.5 per cent, driven by shipments of earthmover wheels and aluminium wheels.
HYDRAULIC CYLINDER BIZ FOCUS