Small cars and two-wheelers face demand pain: Sudip Bandyopadhyay

Time of India

2 days ago

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ET Now: Let us talk about the auto space because today all eyes have been on the entire auto sales numbers. So far, we have numbers coming in from a lot of players and so far, the only thing that we seeing below estimates as of now is the M&M tractor segment and what has beaten estimates is M&M Auto, Ashok Leyland, TVS Motors, and Tata Motors CV. So, largely mixed set of numbers coming in so far because a lot of them are in line as well. What is your take on the kind of auto sales numbers we have seen and how have they fared versus your expectations?
ET Now: Why we are talking about pharma, Sharan just said that Trump is actually doing everything he has promised and earlier he has also at least warned the street about a 200% of tariff. To what extent do you think that could actually turn to fruition, anything that can happen on that front, where are you seeing the impact on our pharma sector back home?
Sudip Bandyopadhyay, Group Chairman, Inditrade Capital , says the small cars as well as two-wheeler there is a challenge, and we know that, there was a demand constraints and everybody was talking about that. We are hoping that festive season, post monsoon things will improve.Well, pretty much it is in line with the expectation I would say, at least that is what we were pencilling in. We were reasonably sure that the commercial vehicle numbers would be in line and better and improving and that is pretty much what the Ashok Leyland numbers shows. Even if you look at Eicher Motors , their commercial vehicle part does show promise and improvement. As far as domestic two-wheeler sales are concerned, obviously, it is subdued. Look at the Bajaj numbers. They are really bad. Of course, Bajaj has a fantastic export performance which takes care and that is why the overall numbers for Bajaj still looks better. But the small cars as well as two-wheeler there is a challenge, and we know that, there was a demand constraints and everybody was talking about that. We are hoping that festive season, post monsoon things will improve. We will have to wait and watch, that is pretty much what it is. As things stand today, there is a problem as far as demand for small cars as well as two wheelers.Well, one thing is very sure that as long as Mr Trump is the president, volatility is the order of the day and we have to be bracing ourselves for that. Every day there is something new and some new tweet comes in or some communication, an interview comes in which kind of rattles the market and that is the order of the day. As far as pharma is concerned, putting a tariff 200% or otherwise is not a viable proposition for us and the consumers which Trump is trying to protect. So, he will not venture there. But yesterday's and today's initiative where he has written to the pharma company CEOs to bring down the prices in US, that is a threat definitely and some of the Indian companies who have large business in US definitely will be impacted. If he carries out some other measure, some other punitive measure, or some other steps he takes to ensure that his communication is adhered to, that is a matter of big concern and worry. So, under these circumstances, and this view I have been maintaining for some time, it is better to be a little careful about companies having significant exposure in the US market and focus on companies who have less or no exposure as far as US markets are concerned. So, we were just talking about Mankind Pharma , that is one company which has got 95% of the sales in India and results were decent. So, one can focus on companies like this who have got a significant domestic presence and limited US presence.