Andhra pradesh and Tamilnadu in race for Royal Enfield plant

Good news for enthusiasts of Royal Enfield bikes! To cut down the 10-month long waiting period for its classic motorcycles, Royal Enfield, a unit of Eicher Motors, plans to ramp up its capacity by setting up a new unit either at Tamil Nadu or Andhra Pradesh.

The company, which is already running three shifts to full capacity at its present unit in Chennai, has decided to set up a greenfield plant “to take care of the demand for the next 10 years”, said Mr R.L. Ravichandran, the CEO of Royal Enfield, on the sidelines of a CII summit here.

The company currently makes about 70,000 units at its Chennai unit while the demand for its motorcycles have been witnessing a steady growth of 25 per cent, he said. “Though the waiting period has now come down to six months, we want to cut it down to zero soon with the commissioning of the new unit,” Mr Ravichandran said. 

The new unit is likely to come up within the next one year, he added.

Though the Enfield CEO refused to divulge any details regarding investment saying that “it was before the company board for discussions”, sources in the know say that the new unit could entail an investment anywhere in the range of `100 crore to `150 crore. 

The company currently makes four models of bikes and exports to countries that include Europe, US, Australia and Asia.