Auto components maker Luman Industries, which has formed a 50:50 joint venture with Germany’s Hengst SE & Co. to manufacture filtration modules for passenger and commercial vehicles, has expressed confidence that its product lines will create a ripple in the market for its German engineering at Indian costs. The JV firm, Hengst Luman India, would be rolling out filter modules at its manufacturing facility in Delhi during the second half of this calendar year. While Daimler India (Bharat Benz) is going to be the JV’s first customer in India, others like Scania, MAN and Volvo Trucks are also expected to follow suit.
Mr. J.S. Sethi, Director of Luman Industries Ltd., said: “Our company is now almost 37 years old. We are mainly into heavy-duty applications and are a complete solutions provider. We are into three product lines, one of which is filtration solutions. We have gone ahead with Hengst on a higher platform in this segment. Our major concentration will be on CVs and off-road vehicles. Right now the products are imported from Germany. To support the ‘Make in India’ campaign of the Modi Government, we are going to cater the Indian passenger cars and commercial vehicles market with world class environment-friendly filtration technology and Daimler India going to be our first endorser in this regard. The expected investment in this JV for the next five years would be around Rs. 300 crores.”
It was recently reported that Luman Industries Ltd., which had joined hands with Hengst SE & Co. KG a few months back, displayed its automotive filters at Automechanika, New Delhi. All the products will be jointly branded and will be sold through Luman’s existing 50 retailers, which will be quadrupled in two years’ time.
It is to be noted that Luman Automotive Systems Pvt. Ltd. is already an approved supplier to Ashok Leyland Ltd., Tata Motors Ltd., International Tractors Ltd., JCB Ltd., Vehicle Factory Jabalpur, TAFE Ltd., Bharat Earth Movers Ltd., Greaves Ltd, Brakes India, SML-Isuzu, Standard Tractors, etc. In addition, it produces component parts for Defense vehicles used by India and other military forces around the world. Additionally, it also caters to Tier-1 players – Man Hummle, Bosch, Mahle, Donaldson Filtration, etc.
Talking about its future course of action, Mr. Sethi stated: “Our SOP is likely to start by August of this year. We will be setting up a new 15,000 sq. ft. plant in Delhi. In 2016, we might open a facility in Pune or AP. We are planning to build three plants for this new JV. To be jointly branded as Hengst Luman, the products are only for the domestic market. But there might be some insourcing from Hengst for its worldwide markets like Europe, Germany and America.”
Luman Automotive Systems Pvt. Ltd., formerly Luman Auto Light P. Ltd., was founded in 1978 by Avtar Singh Sethi, Under his leadership, by 1990, Luman Auto had become the largest exporter of automotive headlamps and subsequently diversified into the Indian domestic marketplace by rolling out lights, oil bath air cleaners, air intake system and starter motors & alternators. Currently, the homegrown firm has four manufacturing locations supporting the needs of OEMs as well as Luman’s aftermarket customers.
“We are currently posting a turnover of Rs. 100 crores and hope to achieve Rs. 600 crores, out of which nearly Rs. 250 crore will be derived from this new business. This is primarily because the cost of Hengst filters, which are BS-V and BS-VI specific, will be four times that of our existing BS-III and BS-IV filters. Though the number of units sold could be less, it will be pretty huge in terms of value,” concluded Mr. Sethi.