EXIDE Industries Ltd will be launching a new battery specially for commercial vehicles as part of the company's thrust on the commercial vehicles segment and rural markets to increase automobile battery sales. The company plans to strengthen its service network in the rural areas and along highways and hopes to build rural sales and service network covering 40,000 villages through 2,000 dealers over the next one year, according to Paban Kr. Kataky, President, Exide Auto-Trade. Through the programme, 'Project Kisan' launched recently, Exide Industries has put in place 800 to 900 dealers covering 15,000 villages. The aim is to target the battery replacement segment for tractors, he said. The potential was estimated at 1.6 million batteries in the tractor market, and Exide did not have a major share for now, he said. Its Jai Kisan tractor batteries have effectively helped tap this segment. However, while not willing to quote numbers, he said that the project had helped to markedly increase the company's presence in this segment.
NSTL
