Steelbird aims to become Rs 5,000-crore company in the next 3 years
Steelbird aims to become Rs 5,000-crore company in the next 3 years

Despite the awareness, majority of Indians think about helmets at the time of mishaps. What do you feel about the industry?

Today, the helmet industry is a small industry in India. Even though the courts and governments have made it mandatory for two-wheeler riders to wear helmets, it has not been enforced strictly. There are only three cities in India today, where it is strictly enforced – New Delhi, Jaipur and Chandigarh. It is mandatory for other states and cities too, but enforcing the same is not that effective. When things are not mandatory, we cannot expect people to fall in line. If it is made mandatory and strictly enforced, then it will take this industry to a different level. For instance, at present the Indian market size for helmets is around Rs 10 million per annum. If helmet wearing is strictly enforced, the demand will easily go 10 times more and touch the Rs 100-million mark. To get that kind of capacity, the industry needs an investment of Rs 3,000 crore. As it is a volumetric industry, lots of technology and space are needed. Helmet manufacturing is a very labour intensive too, say to produce 1,000 helmets a day, you required 100 man power. The helmet industry in coming years will generate a job for minimum 50,000 direct man powers plus indirect man power too.

For this, we are already educating people through various modes, including videos. But, we cannot spend too much on the public awareness part. Only the government can do this. Unless the government strictly enforces this, the public will not care, even though it is their precious life that we all are concerned about. These days almost all OEMs have started providing helmets through their sales channel, and according to Steelbird, this will help quality helmets to automatically reach to a wider audience.

You are talking about the quality as a priority. Off late we have seen several lives being lost despite the rider was wearing a helmet. Why is it so?

Almost 85 per cent of ISI marked helmets sold in India today are fake. People are selling ISI marked helmets for Rs 105 and these are full-faced helmets with visor. More than 207 ISI registered helmet are manufacturers in India. More than 100 companies are operating in a 20x20 room or a 40x40 room. They do not have moulds, machines or equipment that are required to make quality products. If I have to fight against them, I have to wage a lone battle. And I am surprised; the authorities are not acting against them. On the other, the riders should also realize that helmets from an established company like Steelbird costs Rs 900. Then how can you rely on helmets sold for Rs 200-300 for safety. It is like buying spurious drugs and medicine.

If one gets a heart attack and what he buys is a spurious medicine, then naturally the patient will die. In fact, at the time of mishap, the fake helmet breaks and pierces the head, and thereby causing the death of the rider more than due to falling. I feel, some of these riders would have been alive, had they not worn a helmet at all. A good quality helmet costs just about Rs 1,000 and can serve for 10 years, if maintained well. Our governments need to act on this, and should come down heavily on dubious manufacturers. But, till now helmet is not in mandatory list of ISI markings. While other electrical appliances such as pressure cookers and gas burners are in the mandatory ISI list, but a life saving device like helmet is not in that list. The government is spending a huge amount on infrastructure to save lives of human being by making subways, footpaths, over-bridges, zebra crossing, lightings on roads, etc. The government can save many human lives by just making helmet law enforced and that will save millions of lives without any investment from the governments’ part. Most important is that the government must enforce helmet law district wise, and if they will start it now in the coming five years, the government will be able to enforce this law all over India.  

Tell us about Steelbird's manufacturing capacities for helmets and the markets you tap?

We have three plants for manufacturing helmets and all the three are located in Himachal Pradesh. While the first plant has a capacity to make 9,000 helmets per day, the second one has a capacity for 6,000 units per day, and the third plant, which was set up recently, also has a capacity to make 6,000 units per day. So, we have a built-up capacity to make 21,000 helmets a day. But, we are not manufacturing that many currently, rather keeping our capacities ready for the market to grow. We are bullish that the market demand will touch Rs 100 million per annum, and this will happen only when the helmet wearing is made mandatory and enforced strictly in India. If that happens, the country will also be facing a huge shortfall in manufacturing capacity and fresh investments required too will be huge. For instance, through our third plant, we are investing Rs 30 crore for the 6,000 units per day capacity. Anticipating the future requirements, we are also planning to set up a fourth plant with a capacity to roll out 60,000 helmets per day with an investment of around Rs 250 crore. We are planning that plant in Rajasthan and we have just started looking at a few sites in that state and will be firming up plans in the coming months.

In addition to helmets, we also produce components of helmets like buckles, visors, chin straps and interiors, and we supply these to all leading helmet brands around the globe. Our supplies reach to customers in around 50 countries. We also export helmets, but have reduced the numbers off late. Helmet is a complicated product to make and different markets have different standards. Like in India, one has to follow Indian standards, and for Europe, there is European standard and the American market has its own standard. If one has to cater to all these markets, then the investment goes up five times as we need to invest in different moulds and allied manufacturing capabilities. To rollout a new type of helmet, it takes at least two years from design to final production. There are a lot of complications and hence it reduces the focus on exports. However, we continue to export to the markets like Africa, Nepal and Sri Lanka in small quantities.

At the same time, we are scaling up our component exports, while retaining our focus on the Indian market, where we are the leading player in the country with a market share of around 30 per cent in terms of sales by organized players. The unorganised players will be selling seven times more than the organized segment in India now.

How big is the overseas opportunity for India-made helmets?

There is a huge opportunity for exporting helmets. There are numerous types of helmets to cater to and not just for two-wheeler riders. There are helmets for industrial workers, construction labourers, cricketers, horse riders, fire fighters and those for army and police personnel and scores of other categories. But, helmet is an artistic product and needs a lot of passion to make them. That’s why it is an entrepreneur driven industry globally, because it needs passion. Passion to make and passion to sell. We are focusing on the horse riders segment for the export market now and for the automobile segment in India. We are also into the riding gears segment, which is an emerging market in India, and plan to rollout a retail action plan soon. We can do more and cater to the vast global opportunity. But for that we need large resources and the right manpower. If we get that both, we can easily become Rs 5,000-crore company in three years. With our present focus and resources, we will be generating revenue of Rs 500 crore from helmets, and Rs 200 crore from allied businesses that include riding gears, entertainment and motorsports, by 2019.

 

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