Despite the company's margins being under pressure due to rising inputs, Bosch Aftermarket, a spare parts provider to the auto sector, is expecting 20 per cent growth during this year, with no plans to increase prices of its products.
''We continue to grow around 20 per cent in the current year ...and going forward we hope to continue the trend,'' Bosch Vice president (Automotive Aftermarket) K Ravi told reporters here.
By August, the aftermarket business of the company has seen a growth of 23 per cent and last year, it had reported a turnover of Rs 1,000 crore, Mr Ravi informed.
Mr Ravi maintained that the sales have not been hit by a deficient rainfall in the country, but admitted that the tractor business was hit in some parts of the country, particularly in Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
''To a certain extent, the business was affected in Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra...but now with rainfall picking up pace, things have improved,'' he said.
The company said it has no immediate plans of increasing the prices of its products.
''Its true that our margins are under pressure but we are not going to increase the prices of our products as no one is willing to shell out more money...but we will look at cost cutting measures wherever possible,'' he added.
The Aftermarket division will spend Rs 30-40 crore for expanding its network of car service stations from present 330 to 500 by the end of 2010 and also plans to expand its dealership base for two and four wheelers from the present 140 each to across all the disricts of the country.
''We will spend Rs 30-40 crore for expanding our network of car service stations but the amount will mainly be for building infrastructure and providing technical support,'' he said.
On the capacity expansion front, Mr Ravi said though the company is not able to meet demand, it has also no plans to add further capacity at its manufacturing facilities as they are operating at their ''maximum level''.
''We are operating at full capacity but still are not able to meet demand...we are geeting good orders for our products but these are short term orders,'' he added.
To meet the increase in demand, the company plans to import five to six per cent of spare parts from Bosch's other facilities located outside India.
During this year, the company targets to sell 20 million spark plugs as compared to 19 million sold in previous year.
Asked whether the company has any diversification plans, Mr Ravi said there are no such plans.
