Hello and a very warm welcome to Business Today TV. I am Chetan Butani. Well, Maruti Suzuki has come out with a set of numbers and today I am joined by the chairman, Mr. R.C. Bhargava. Bhargava sir, thank you so much for speaking to us and congratulations on the great set of numbers. You have mentioned primarily the growth will continue because of the GST cuts and of course with the momentum building the demand will be there. Tell us about the numbers. What stood out for you as far as the numbers go, sir?
The growth which I am talking about is now largely in our case constrained by our production capacity. We are running plants at 100%. And this year we have just added two new lines. One at Kharkhoda, one at Hansalpur, each of 250,000 units. These will gradually pick up production. And we expect that in the whole year between these two lines we will be able to add another 250,000 cars over what we did in the last period. So, that will give us roughly a 10% growth over last year.
Right. So, with this 250,000 cars that will be further added, would that be a mix of EVs and SUVs and small cars or particularly are you also looking at exports from these 250,000 cars, sir?
Everything. This will include exports, EVs, SUVs, small cars.
Understood. Bhargava sir, if I could also ask you with the West Asia crisis, do you expect any issues on the component side and supply side and eventually maybe leading to hurting of sales in the near future?
I wish I knew exactly what was happening and what will happen in the West Asian crisis. There are so many different kinds of conflicting reports one reads. And hard to make a judgment as to what is really happening. So far, there is no significant constraint. But depends on how long this whole thing continues, what happens, does it escalate and become more intense, does it continue in a standoff kind of situation, will hormones get opened, will it not get opened? It's difficult to predict at the moment, Chetan.
Okay, understood, sir. So, with Cafe 3 norms coming in, what's your view on Cafe 3 norms? I'm sure you have looked at the draft notification and is there a unanimity between the industry and the government on Cafe 3 and what multiple of fuel options are you considering to offset the impact of Cafe 3 on the cost, sir?
See, there's been intense discussions between government and industry. Just now we have a draft Cafe rules which have been published. We have yet to wait and see what the final rules will be and commenting on the draft rules is a little bit premature because the final rules may not be exactly the same as the draft rules. So, my view is that we should avoid discussing that. All I can say is that Maruti will be able to meet the new Cafe name rules in full.
Understood, sir. And if I could also ask you on the growth outlook for FY27 and the 14,000 crore capex that you are looking at, where would how would that be distributed eventually, sir?
See, largely this capex is in Kharkhoda where we will be continuing to work on the third line and then the fourth line. And in the new Gujarat site because we've just started work in the new site and there'll be some capex there. And then there's the usual capex of 4, 5,000 crores which happens. So, because there are two sites where we are working on, that is the main reason why the total capex has increased from about 10,000 last year to around 14,000 this year.
Okay, understood, sir. And government is also looking at moving beyond E20, sir. Are we ready to have now like a E21 or E25 or a E30? What's your view on that, sir? But does the vehicle production issues really stand out when it comes to ethanol 20 version, 25 version or the 30 version?
Chetan, we have never lagged behind government in any technology matter. And on ethanol we will also be able to meet whatever the government will decide for the industry. And we will meet probably before any timeline which is fixed.
And but sir, do you feel the quality of vehicles that is being talked about that, you know, engines malfunctioning and cars average coming down? Is there anything that you have probably understood with ethanol coming in to the main fuel stream, sir?
Chetan, to the best of my knowledge, cars which were designed for E10 are able to get up to E20. Nothing much will happen to them. We have also got a kit available for people to put into their cars if it goes beyond 20, E20. Or if they have cars which were prior to E10 you want.
Understood, sir. And sir, what are the flex fuel vehicle plans because now the government has also eventually begun discussions on testing the norms for E85 and E100. So, please tell us about the flex fuel vehicles, sir.
