India’s foremost body building and customised mobility solutions provider opens up on the chance to innovate, experiment, try things that no one else has done, and set examples for the rest of the industry to follow.
“Lighting the path of Innovation”, claims a slogan used by the Chandigarh-based JCBL Ltd. This is something I wanted to put to the test. So I started to brainstorm a little, to capture whatever comes up on calling JCBL. I had noticed its Cerita inter-city coaches several years ago when visiting Mumbai, but my profound impressions were from its yellow-coloured low-floored luxury school buses plying in the neighbourhood, in fact, I even saw one early in the morning on my way to Chandigarh. What else, I squeezed my head. A mobile blood bank vehicle at my college campus? Yes. The exclusive poll campaign vehicle using Mercedes-Benz multi-axle chassis built for Akilesh Yadav, oh yeah! Motorhomes and special application vehicles for defence, yep. And last but not the least, the latest BharatBenz sleeper coach with uber-luxurious interiors and goodies.
A day-long interaction with JCBL’s Managing Director Mr. Rishi Aggarwal and a walk around at its manufacturing enclave on the outskirts of Chandigarh showed me how obtuse I am to put their ‘innovative minds’ on test! At one end of the campus, trucks are lined up for cargo box construction, and a separate section of fibre-glass mastering making body masks for the Chennai Metro coaches, while, on the other side, I see a flood of bus and rail accessories like seats, window frames, and plastic racks lying around. Some vintage car components for classic Mustangs and Chevy Impalas were on display too. Having realized that I still haven’t got into their core bus body section, I made up my mind.
On the other side of the Delhi-Chandigarh highway is the company’s dedicated body building turnery, that’s where it got more interesting. Hundreds of chassis are lined up, some are being dressed up as ambulances and yellowish school vans, while others are intimidatingly getting ready as armored troop carriers, rugged ambulances, and patrol vehicles for defence applications. A huge chunk of regular passenger vans and luxury coaches in the making hardly stayed in my mind.
I’m still half way through the facility. While moving past an array of extendable motorhomes, display vans and armored passenger cars that are in the making, I realized that this is not a usual company that is driven simply out of profit motive. All these products that JCBL builds are niche and customized ones that stand out in the crowd, suiting specialised needs and applications, and no one-size-fits-all approach can actually work here. There is an innate passion that lingers around, thoughtfully conceived, artfully carved-out, and superiorly engineered. Innovation is at the forefront where the chance to innovate, experiment, try things that no one else has done, is abundant, and maybe even set examples for the rest of the industry to follow. I firmly realise that companies like JCBL hold the key to the future prosperity of the auto industry – setting new standards by “Lighting the path of Innovation”!
Mr. Rishi Aggarwal recounts: “It all began with the dealership of Mazda buses, later embarking on body building for the brand in 1989 under the aegis of my father Mr. Rajinder Aggarwal”. Since then the family-owned enterprise vowed to the Indian growth story – gradual yet transformative – expanding their footprints to newer levels to feed their never-exhausting passion and appetite for designing and building vehicle shells and allied components.
Now, the JCBL Group is a leading conglomerate in the country, with a CAGR of 30 per cent closing at Rs. 1,559 crores last financial year. The group includes JCBL Ltd. offering a wide range of mobility solutions in passenger and cargo segments, and Mobility Solutions Ltd. (MSL) for coach components, pharmaceutical businesses, and automotive dealerships.
“Our vision for 2021 is to more than double the size and growth of today”, claims Mr. Rishi, “out of which the mobility solutions businesses is expected to be the chief growth driver”. With strong R&D and technological know-how, JCBL Ltd. has a well-laid-out strategy to be the market leader in all the segments of body building and other allied ventures, he adds.
Building ‘mobility’
Last year, JCBL Ltd. has rolled out over 4,000 passenger buses, 100 special-purpose vehicles (SPVs), 4,000 trailers, 7,000 cargo boxes, and 1,000 covered containers at its two facilities in Punjab and another one down South. The company is the market leader in the premium school bus, ambulance and SPV segments, while the tipper body and tip-trailers of JCBL are class-leading in the South Indian region. Gone are the days when body building was dirty and tedious, largely done with manual labour and hand tools. JCBL’s facility is far advanced and sophisticated, resulting in precision and quality work, and a quicker fabrication time.
Mr. Rishi attributes this impressive feat to the company’s very integrated manufacturing and sound R&D, right from processing raw materials to designing and execution all done in-house. For tippers and trailer making, its better understanding of metallurgy is the key to success. A new facility is also getting ready at JCBL’s Chennai unit to make tankers for petroleum and other purposes.
The company is working closely with almost every OEM in India, including Ashok Leyland, Tata Motors, Daimler, Volvo-Eicher, SML Isuzu, Mahindra, etc., providing body building solutions. During my visit, hundreds of ambulances were on the anvil, as a part of the Indian Army’s purchase order from Ashok Leyland.
On trailers and flatbeds, it has joined hands with German giant Doll GmbH for making flatbeds that are ARAI-approved.
Mr. Rishi also revealed that the company is under talks with the Indian Army for modern, state-of-the-art 55 and 72-tonner spec flatbeds for moving battle ranks and bulge logistics. “We grow along with our partners, OEMs, STUs and fleet operators, bet on what the nation wants for its growth, and there lies the sustainability of our success”, he observes.
Mobility Solutions Ltd. (MSL), on the other hand, supports the bus industry by its ARAI-certified and bus-code compliant coach components for all segments of buses, including seats, window-frames, door locks, hat racks, ventilators and roof hatches. Initially conceived to support the group’s body building portfolio, the company now sells over two-third of its produce to the market. It is the second leading fabricator of seats, with a feat of over 400,000 units per year.
“The first-mover advantage of JCBL in body building and bus industry has paid off, in bringing out innovative and quality products from MSL”, explains Mr. Rishi. Moreover, the company is spearheading fibre-glass manufacturing, thanks to its JV with Stratiforme Industries of France, developing FRP components, end-cabins, toiletry modules for railways and metros. Notable customers in this regard include General Electric, Alstom, Bombardier and ICF. Certain innovative products for Indian Railways are also under development, he revealed.
Asked on the ebb and flow of his business, Mr. Rishi laments that lack of proper implementation of the Bus Code and standardisation is taking a heavy toll on the growth of the bus industry, particularly on the lines of efficiency, safety and consolidation. There exists an unfair competition, he says, with vast unorganised players on the one hand and OEMs venturing into standardised bus body building on the other hand.
“I’m being squeezed between the two, as there is hardly any fair play with respect to conformation of norms, quality and cost from unorganised players”, he regrets. He doesn’t want the informal body builders to be wiped out, but wants them to be trained and improve their capabilities for the industry standards so as to ensure a perfect and healthy competition. The Government should help them adopt the industry norms, he observed, pointing out that mobility policies often lack long-term vision for ensuring sustainability.
Inspired minds
On JCBL’s virtues and shortcomings, Mr. Rishi is quick to point out sophisticated designing and upscalling capabilities as its biggest strengths, also acknowledging that the company is not that flamboyant in marketing. He says his family upbringing and company approach relied on the fact that the product should do all the talking.
On the source of his unique work ethics and motivation towards fair business, he points out to his father who sits at the bus body plant everyday working on new projects and designs just as day one when he began this automotive empire called JCBL. “Dad always wants something creative on his table, his mind is constantly running on something that is likely to a phenomenal idea or product”, says Mr. Rishi, calling attention to his latest pet project – containerised luxury lounge or home!
In fact, I was told that he took personal interest in the development of the BharatBenz sleeper coach, for which his team took just two months to unleash the wonder.
The group’s CMD, Mr. Rajinder Aggarwal, feels gratified the way his enterprises have grown. “My team works passionately and harder than me, and what we have created is beyond anyone’s imagination, it’s a great job. Passion and determination is all it takes, and we as a team never give up anything easily”, he says.
During our quick chat, I noticed the book he was reading – ‘Governing Business and Relationships’ authored by A. Parthasarathy. At his age and experience in running a successful business conglomerate for decades, does he really need that? Perhaps, that’s what inspired minds are!