Wheels India plans Rs 100 cr capex for current year

“A good portion of the Rs 100 crore capex will go into the wind segment where we will be setting up a new plant in Thervoy Kandigai, near Chennai,” Srivats Ram, MD, Wheels India told reporters here on Friday.

“In addition, we will also be investing a good portion into the second phase of the cast aluminum wheel plant there. We have built up capacity for 3.5 lakh wheels per annum and will be taking this up to 7.5 lakh wheels per annum,” he added.

Ram added the capex spend also hinges on the COVID-19 situation in the country. Meanwhile, the company closed last fiscal with a revenue of about Rs 2,215.55 crore and a net profit of Rs 6.75 crore down from a revenue of Rs 2,438.72 cr and a net profit of about Rs 54.11 cr for FY20. The Board has recommended a dividend of Re 1.00 per share. “While the Q1 of last year was a washout due to the national lockdown, there was strong demand in the latter part of the year with a recovery in most of our business segments by the Q4. While the domestic tractor business showed strong growth in the last three quarters, we saw growth in export business in H2,” Ram said.

On the outlook for FY22, he said: “While we have strong export demand for products, the domestic business and to some extent execution of exports will depend on the state of lockdown in the regions where our plants are.” Wheels India rolls out wheels for trucks, buses, agri tractors, construction equipment, utility vehicles and passenger cars with manufacturing plants at TN, Maharashtra, UP and Uttarakhand and a combined overall annual capacity of about 10.3 million wheels.