Bharat Forge reported a stable third quarter this Q3FY19, with revenue growth of 21 percent and net profit growth of 36 percent year-on-year (YoY). Margins were up 120 basis points at 31.1 percent year-on-year (YoY).

Baba Kalyani, CMD, Bharat Forge said there are no worries with regards to the North American market. He adds, "It is extremely strong and doing well. In fact, 2019 is expected to be the best year for commercial vehicle sales in North America."

Adding to that, he said when one is looking at the trend for class-8 trucks, they should look at three numbers – order booking, production and sales. In fact, production in January has been the highest ever compared to any month in 2018.

When asked about the weakness reported in ACT numbers, he clarified the weakness is because there are no delivery slots for 2019 and therefore those orders are for 2020 and 2021.

With regards to the trajectory for domestic commercial vehicles, he said FY19 is expected to see a robust growth. “The problem is that we have had a very large growth in Q1 and Q2 and based on the huge numbers of Q2, everybody thought Q3 and Q4 will be even bigger. So a lot of inventory buildup took place and what you are seeing now is largely deleveraging the inventory, and that is what we are seeing. Overall, at the end of the year, you will still see a pretty strong growth,” he said.

Talking about the defence business, he said, “We had a good quarter in defence and aerospace. We are slowly building up that business. I think we all know that business takes long time to build, but we are building up. We have had a good quarter in defence aerospace. We haven’t got orders for any major platforms, although we are working on 3-4 big platforms including artillery guns. I am sure in the next 12-15 months we will be on one of those platforms.”

First Published:Feb 13, 2019 4:45 PM IST