Bajaj hikes bike prices by 1,000

Bajaj Auto on Tuesday announced that it will raise prices by . 1,000 for its motorcycles close on the heels of Hero Honda making a similar move.

“The continued rising cost of raw material inputs is the main cause for this increase. Despite the hike, we do not expect this to affect sales,”said Bajaj Auto president (twowheelers ) S Sridhar.

TVS will follow suit as the twowheeler major has been facing pressure on its margins. Bike prices rose by a maximum of Rs 1500 due to 15% appreciation in rawmaterial prices.

“Bike makers are passing the increasing margin pressure to the consumer. Price increases will vary from player to player and will depend on the demand situation,”said Angel Broking analyst Vaishali Jajoo.

Analysts said price increase will not have any impact on sales which has been growing at 25%. For the period April to November , motorcycles sales stood at 50 lakh units compared to 47.47 lakh units in the previous month.
Bike-makers have been holding on to prices by enhancing operational efficiencies.

“Considering the profile of the buyers, bike makers take a conscious call when increasing prices,” said an analyst. While car prices have been increased 4-5 times in the past 11 months, bike makers did not go for hikes.