Harley Davidson seeks cut in import duty

In an exclusively interview to this newspaper, Harley-Davidson India managing director Anoop Prakash said that tax and regulatory issues need to be addressed with sincerity to attract more foreign investment.

“When we started our operations in 2009, the prices of our bikes were too high. It was then that we decided to install our completely-knocked down (CKD) assembling units in India to facilitate ease of doing business,” he said.

By assembling the bikes in India, the levies approximately come down to as low as 30 per cent. Car companies such as Volks-wagen AG’s Audi unit have also adopted this strategy to reduce retail prices.

“With Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘Make in India’ call, we anticipate India to climb up in the index of ease of doing business,” he added. However, higher import duty has still been a deterrent for auto firms.

Harley-Davidson sells 12 models in the India with prices starting at Rs 4.1 lakh onwards, which includes a significantly high import duty and other levies.

The bike maker assembles eight models in India, while imports two from the US. Night Rod special and Street Glide are imported from US and are priced Rs 29 lakh (ex-Delhi showroom) and Rs 22 lakh respectively.

The company, which recently launched Street 750 bike in the market, has sold a total of 361 units in April 2014. Out of this, 210 were Street 750s. In comparison, Harley sold just 146 units in April 2013, as per SIAM report.

Mr Prakash, who was in Hyderabad to promote the third Southern H.O.G rally, said the company will be launching two new showrooms in southern India. “We will be launching our second showroom in Bengaluru and another in Surat,” he said. The new openings will push the total number of showrooms in India to 17.