The person who has been credited with much of this growth is Mr. Rishi Aggarwal, Managing Director of the JCBL Group. He, along with his Father Mr. Rajinder Aggarwal have taken the group to great heights. Infact, Economic Times has recently conferred the prestigious Business Achiever Award on Mr. Rishi Aggarwal, for being among the best second generation Industrialists This was an outcome of the Economic Times’ year-long study on Industrialists of North, whom in their second generation, have taken up the business to great heights with broader perspectives.
Despite a tough 2008-09 JCBL has emerged stronger thanks to its focus on improving efficiency in each of its businesses. The success of JCBL has been its strong focus on in-house engineering and design capabilities. The group is strengthening each of its core businesses by entering into new joint ventures and stategic partnerships. I spoke to Mr. Rishi Aggarwal on the Group’s strategy for each of the businesses.
Bus and SPV
JCBL offers the most comprehensive range of Buses, Special Application Vehicles, Election Campaign Vans, Display Vans, OB Vans, Radar Calibration Vans, Riot Control Vehicles, Mobile Homes and Offices, Life-Saving Ambulances. In the bus business JCBL will end the year with sales of 4000 buses compared to 2800 last year. The company has capacity to build 6000 buses per annum. JCBL is planning to focus on high-end luxury buses and Special purpose vehicles. JCBL continues to strengthen its presence in the inter-city luxury bus segment, working closely with the STUs in Punjab, Gujarat, Maharastra and other states.
The company is working with OEMs on special application products such as Ambulances, bullet proof vehicles and Mobile homes.
During the current year JCBL has executed a prestigious product for United Nations Development Program. The company has delivered 32 Mobile Blood Bank units customized and built on Cerita chassis.
Strengthening Cerita
Cerita is JCBL’s top of the line, luxury brand in the inter-city and city bus segment. It was a bold entry into the integral coach segment for the group. In the last few years, Cerita has managed carve a niche for itself in the inter-city luxury and city bus segment. BEST, Mumbai is one of the major customers of Cerita with over 300 city buses on-road. To further strengthen the Cerita brand, the company is now setting-up an extensive service network across India. “Within the next 18 months, we will establish workshops in 9 locations across India. We will launch a completely new range of buses from Cerita Stable in 2011 including the Euro 4 city buses. We expect the first 3 locations to come up by March 2011”, adds Mr. Rishi Aggarwal.
The Cerita range of buses have also been indigenized to a large extent. Cummins engines are supplied locally, transmissions from Allison are again supplied locally.
In the last few years, JCBL has been taking a deliberate effort to strengthen its business in the Southern part of India. As part of this effort, JCBL set-up a joint venture with Marrel for manufacturing tipper bodies in Oragadam near Chennai.
JCBL-Mithra JV
To further strengthen its position in the Southern bus market, JCBL has entered into a joint venture with the Mithra Group of Andhra Pradesh for building buses. The 50:50 joint venture between JCBL and Mithra is setting up a manufacturing facility in Vijayawada on a 20 acre plot of land at an investment of Rs. 25 crores to manufacture 2000 buses per annum. Initially buses will be sent as SKDs from the JCBL plant in the North and will be assembled in Vijayawada. Over a period of time, the new plant will start full-fledged manufacturing on its own.
The JCBL Mithra JV will cater to the requirements of transport corporations in the South, School, College and institutional bus segment.
Mr. Rishi Aggarwal says, “It’s the start of a new phase in the history of JCBL with the expansion in south. Mithra is a trusted partner to work with. We found lot of synergies with the Mithra Group in terms of the business philosophy and process approach”.
Components
Whats interesting to see is the way the company has transformed from a pure bus manufacturer, to a complete solution provider. Today, JCBL Group has in-house capabilities to manufacture most of the important components that go into a bus, starting from seats, FRPs, interior systems, air conditioning systems, locks and other coach components.
Component has become an important part of JCBL’s overall business. The component business has been consolidated under the MSL brand. The company’s initial foray into the component business was in manufacturing seating systems. Today, MSL has 3 business units – Seating systems, FRPs and Interior components. Mr. Rishi Aggarwal says, “Our component strategy has worked well for the group. Next year our component business alone would cross Rs. 100 crores in turnover”.
In the seating systems, MSL is the second largest manufacturer of seats in India. The company offers a wide range of seats for all applications and these have been approved by ARAI. MSL supplies seats to all the leading OEMs like Swaraj Mazda Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd., Ashok Leyland and leading bus body builders and luxury bus operators in the country. MSL caters to leading STUs like the Gujarat State Transport Corporation, Maharashtra State Transport Corporation, Himachal Roadways, Rajasthan State Transport Corporation, PEPSU Road Transport Corporation, Chandigarh Transport Undertaking and BEST Mumbai.
MSL had also established a joint venture with GHE Group for bus components and interiors. MSL is today a leading supplier of locks, hat racks, roof hatches, roller blinds and other accessories for all major bus manufacturers.
Haiger Refrigeration (P) Limited, part of the JCBL Group, is a leading manufacturer and supplier of bus air conditioning systems. Haiger offers cost–efficient air conditioning systems for the bus industry in India. The company is planning to set-up a modern state-of-the-art facility for bus air conditioning systems.
MSL – Stratiforme JV
MSL has recently set-up a joint venture with Stratiforme Industries of France, a leading manufacturers of Railway Composites in Europe. The new joint venture company has established a world class fiber glass manufacturing facility. The 51:49 JV between MSL and Stratiforme will cater to part of requirements of Stratiforme in Europe and will also supply to companies like Alsthom and Bombardier in India. This is JV will significantly enhance the groups capabilities in fibre glass manufacturing. Bus is an important segment to focus for the MSL-Startiforme JV. The JV has invested Rs. 15 crores in a world class facility.
JCBL Marrel
An important diversification for JCBL was in the area of cargo applications, particularly tippers and tip-trailers. JCBL set-up a joint venture with French major Marrel for manufacturing tipper bodies. The manufacturing facility was established in Oragadam, the new industrial suburb in Chennai. JCBL Marrel initially started supplying tipper bodies to Volvo India and today, it is working with most of the truck manufacturers. “We have a strong order order book for the next 3 months”, says Mr. Rishi Aggarwal. By 2013 we expect substantial volumes in JCBL Marrel.
JCBL is clearly strengthening each of its business units and preparing itself for the next phase of growth. “In our 2nd phase of expansion, we have drawn some big plans for both for cargo and passenger segment. We are setting-up a world class facility in Chennai adjacent to the JCBL Marrel plant. We want to leverage on our capabilities and capture markets across India”.
