IS BAJAJ TAKING OVER AGAIN?

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For many years, Hamara Bajaj ruled the Indian two-wheeler market with its well-known Chetak scooters. They had little competition to worry about until Hero Honda came in to spoil the party.

Hero Honda's new generation bikes that were reliable and cheaper to run became popular very quickly and it did not take long for them to become market leaders, taking over from Bajaj. They stayed on the top for a long time and stayed much ahead of their competition - Bajaj and TVS. But things seem to be changing again.

In August, Hero Honda saw decline in sales while Bajaj Auto's sales continued to grow. The gap in number of units sold by each of them stood at 30,000 - a number much less than what used to be.

In a market that is seeing a deluge of product launches, lower end of two wheeler market is nearly becoming like commodities. It is hard to point to models that stand out and no bike is considerably different from other. In such a market, prices and marketing become the key drivers more than anything else. With Bajaj and TVS managing to improve technology in their vehicles, Hero Honda's quality and technology edge is now lost. Besides, Hero Honda's attempt to gather a market share in the higher end with CBZ and Karizma has not met with the kind of success that Bajaj has seen with Pulsar and Avenger.

All is still not lost for Hero Honda. One of the reasons for decline is sales is attributed to strikes at their plant, which is temporary. Hero Honda plans to launch many models in the next few months, and their future could depend on it. They have also moved into scooters market by launching Hero Honda Pleasure. It is a market where Bajaj does not have a major presence, but wants to get into.

While Hero Honda can't be written off, it is likely that Bajaj will continue to improve its sales. It would be a fairly long wait before the winner is decided.