India has surpassed China as the world’s most populous country and successfully sent a probe to the moon. While much of its bicycle industry still focuses on the domestic or Southeast Asian markets, some companies are demonstrating greater ambition. Tariffs with key export markets appear favorable, but numerous challenges remain.
At last year’s Eurobike, quite a few exhibitors from India could be found in Hall 9. Assembly specialists were keen to highlight an easy way to avoid the persistent EU anti-dumping tariffs against made-in-China e-bikes. India’s advantageous tariff situation, the availability of raw materials such as steel and aluminum, its cost-competitive production, and the country’s large and young population are strong assets that India brings to the table. The sheer volume of India’s domestic bicycle market is impressive as well. A significant portion of its population resides in rural areas where bicycles are a popular mode of transportation due to their affordability and accessibility.
India’s domestic bicycle market volume stands at roughly 10 million units per year—two and a half times that of Germany’s bicycle market, which is the largest in Europe. The biggest name in India’s bicycle industry is Hero Motors Company (HMC): founded in 1956, it has grown to an annual production capacity of 7.5 million units, holding a 43 percent market share in India with Hero Cycles and various other brands operating under its umbrella. With its Lectro brand, it was also the first Indian manufacturer to produce a model with a Yamaha mid-motor. As a production partner of Enviolo, it manufactures CVT hubs in one of its Indian factories.
According to Anil Rathi, COO of Hero Motors Company, there’s more to it than just volume: “India is home to a well-established automotive supply chain and a pool of skilled engineers specializing in electric mobility solutions. Add favorable government initiatives such as ‘Make in India’ and you get efficient sourcing of materials, allowing for the production of high-quality e-bike components and complete e-bikes at competitive prices.” A 2019 report from the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) estimated India’s annual domestic production of bicycles to exceed 15 million units, accounting for 10 percent of global production at that time.
To date, most of this production is for the domestic market. Only five percent of that output consisted of medium to high-end bicycles, with the bulk being simple, single-speed, low-cost utility and kids’ bikes. This has implications for the supply chain and assemblers’ operations, as Karan Aggarwal, Director of Amar Wheels, explains: “By and large, the bicycles produced for India’s domestic market are still very old-school. For that reason, only a handful of suppliers and assemblers are fit and ready to produce for export markets, and an export-worthy component industry in India is still in the development phase, so most of it needs to be imported.” With a staff of 300, Amar Wheels specializes in lightweight cranksets, handlebars, and chainrings made of aluminum.
“We have invested in technology and international manufacturing facilities and installed the machinery in India. As for the future, we are open for acquisitions, international investments or joint ventures”, Aggarwal explains. Since Amar Wheels can run small batches on short notice, has fast development capabilities and offers a high level of customization, it has become a preferred supplier for various makers of light-weight kid bikes, raising the share of exports on its overall turnover to 70 percent. Not a lot of companies within India’s bicycle industry can claim such a number.
Another Indian manufacturer that has successfully built business relations as a quality OE supplier for various bicycle tire brands is Hartex Rubber. Founded in 1961, this family enterprise has grown to an annual output of 18 million tires and 36 million inner tubes, exporting its products to five continents. Hartex Rubber operates factories in both the Ludhiana and Hyderabad areas, focusing on quality and serving the needs of buyers. Recently, it invested US$40 million in an impressive new factory covering 26 acres of land in the Ludhiana area—some of it covered by forest to reduce the ecological footprint of production. Solar panels mounted on the roof cover 20 percent of the total energy consumption.
India’s newest bicycle tyre factory offers best-in-class capabilities in the industry. “This new integrated facility helps us control the entire process end-to-end and offer R&D and testing capabilities. This results in very complex yet consistent products, and we do it all with a pretty green footprint. One size doesn’t fit all, so at Hartex we try to offer customers the customisation they need, backed with the support of automation that makes it possible to offer value for money”, Hartex Rubber’s Director Varun Sureka points out.
Given the massive size of India’s domestic market for wheeled vehicles of all kinds and sizes and the availability of natural rubber, it’s no surprise that various tire manufacturers have flourished within the country apart from Hartex Rubber. Apollo Tyres made headlines when it acquired Dutch competitor Vredestein as early as 2009. Other bicycle tire offerings from India include Ralson and Metro Tyres.
Naturally, the ongoing electrification of global bicycle markets has not gone unnoticed by HMC. Its Esync subsidiary is fully committed to the design, development, and manufacturing of high-quality and high-performance e-bike system solutions, signaling higher ambitions. To achieve this, it combines technological expertise with a reliable supply chain to offer quality products at competitive pricing. To make inroads into the e-bike segment, the company has been following a strategy of cooperation—with Estonian connectivity specialist Comodule, but more notably a joint venture with Yamaha Motor from Japan to produce affordable yet sturdy hub motors in India under the HYM Drive Systems brand.
The factory where these hub motors are produced opened in December 2022 in Ludhiana. At Eurobike 2023, a hub motor of this brand could be seen in Hall 9, spinning submerged in an aquarium for three full days, demonstrating it had been designed with monsoon conditions in mind. “The HYM motor factory is up and running and ramping up the delivery of motors for all global market needs, including the domestic market,” explains Hero Motors COO Anil Rathi. As Esync CTO Holger Pries points out: “Hero Motors Company offers the unique advantage of an integrated ecosystem to global customers—an advanced e-bike system through Esync, quicker in-house frame development and production, and established bicycle parts sourcing through reliable partners.”
With Chennai-based TVS Motor, another Indian two-wheeler heavyweight has opted for acquisitions rather than joint ventures. Its first moves came in Switzerland, where they initially bought into a lifestyle-oriented e-bike brand with EGO Movement before taking over the Swiss E-Mobility Group (SEMG), which owns and operates brands such as Cilo, Allegro, Simpel, and Zenith, and has started expanding its business into Germany in 2024. With the acquisition of Ebco, TVS Group found a way into the United Kingdom as well. Other prominent bicycle brands within India include frame builders like TI Cycles, assembly specialist Atlas Cycles, and Avon Cycles, La Sovereign, and the Firefox brand, which was acquired by Hero Cycles in 2015.