Mumbai: Bajaj Auto Ltd has geared up to offer more discounts during the festival season, as market leader Hero MotoCorp may come up with "the mother of all" promotional schemes to clear inventory pile-up, ahead of the implementation of Bharat Stage VI norms from April, Managing Director Rajiv Bajaj said.
In an interaction with CNBC-TV18, Bajaj said he believes the festival season is the only opportunity available to the automakers to clear BS-IV inventory, which has remained at high levels over the past six months or so.
Anticipating deep discounts from its biggest rival, at a time when sales are slowing, the company abstained from hiking prices of commuter segment motorcycles, he said.
The company has not hiked prices of most commuter segment motorcycles as it does not have much pricing power in the category, Bajaj said.
The only price hike the company has taken is on CT110, which makes 5% of the total commuter sales of the company, he said.
The Pune-headquartered company, though, has increased prices of Dominar and Pulsar Neon by around 5%, and those of some other motorcycles by around 1%.
Bajaj said the overall impact of these price hikes on the company's profitability will be negligible as it is likely to be offset by higher discounts and offers during the festival season.
The hike in product prices in the premium segment comes at a time when two-wheeler sales in India fell by 22% on year to 1.51 mln units in August, primarily due to a slowdown in the economy, and increased cost of vehicle ownership.
At 1216 IST, shares of Bajaj Auto were trading at 2,781 rupees on the National Stock Exchange, up 0.3%.
