Hero MotoCorp Ltd Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

The following is excerpted from the question-and-answer section of the transcript.

Question: Amyn Pirani - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Congratulations Niranjan on the new role. Actually, my first question is a bit related to that. I mean, I think this is the first time in Hero's history where we have an outside professional holding the role of CEO. So can you give us some broad idea as to -- and I think you've announced VRS at REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MAY 05, 2023 / 7:00AM, HROM.NS - Q4 2023 Hero MotoCorp Ltd Earnings Call a nonworker level. I mean, I don't know if this is the right forum, maybe you want to do this at a different forum. But is there something that you can tell us in the -- is there any new formation around strategy for the next 2 to 3 years? How are you thinking about it? Is there something that you would like to guide us from a medium-term point of view rather than just the quarter or the year?

Question: Amyn Pirani - JPMorgan Chase & Co, Research Division - Analyst : Sure. Hope to hear more of that, maybe at a later date. Secondly, on the near-term market share and volume trend, so I mean, like it was widely pointed out, is in the fourth quarter, you did see a market share improvement. But if I look at on a full year basis, there were still losses both on an overall basis as well as motorcycle. At least April is just one month, maybe you should not extrapolate, but it has started off a slightly relatively softer note for you compared to the other players. So what should we think about in terms of launches? Because whilst Splendor is a great product for us, and it continues to be a great product, it has become a very large proportion of our volumes. How should we think about launches and segments and market share as we look into the next 12 to 18 months?

Question: Pramod Kumar - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Niranjan, congratulations. And I think another set of congratulations for the result as well. So my first question, Niranjan, is on the 125CC side because you did say that 4Q, you have seen some market share gains kind of coming back, but we are still a long way off from where we used to be in terms of the market share like closer to 50% a couple of years back. So if you can help us understand on 125CC and then the scooter segment as to what the kind of numbers or targets which you would be happy with our kind of market share gains, which you'll be happy with. So it kind of gives us visibility on the runway for these brands we can come back. That will be the first question. REFINITIV STREETEVENTS | www.refinitiv.com | Contact Us consent of Refinitiv. 'Refinitiv' and the Refinitiv logo are registered trademarks of Refinitiv and its affiliated companies. MAY 05, 2023 / 7:00AM, HROM.NS - Q4 2023 Hero MotoCorp Ltd Earnings Call

Question: Pramod Kumar - UBS Investment Bank, Research Division - Analyst : Yes, yes. And the second question, Niranjan is on your approach as a leader of the organization now. As to how do you see -- when you look at the next 5 years for the organization, what are the things which are like the key priority for us, right? Because we've seen market share loss. We've seen margin erosion. We've seen some segments where Hero could have done much better as a franchise, right? So given all that and the electrification, which is a parallel run, a pretty disruptive one, what are the priorities for you? Is it volumes or success in some segments? And how do you see margins in that context? Because EV ramp-up is definitely can't be accretive for the near term. So how should one -- rather, how would you look at this from your vantage point on, Niranjan.

Question: Kumar Rakesh - BNP Paribas, Research Division - Analyst : First of all, congratulations Niranjan on your promotion. I would highly appreciate you hear your medium-term plans on a separate platform. We already see change in EV ramp-up plans, looking forward to hearing more of such moves. My first question was on the demand side. For the last 2 years, unfortunately, we have gone into festival season with a lot of optimism around demand. And post-festival season demand typically hasn't stood up to those expectations and has softened down. What are the drivers which we are seeing this time around that gives us hope that the demand hopefully will sustain at strong levels? Or there is still some level of uncertainty on demand sustaining?

Question: Kumar Rakesh - BNP Paribas, Research Division - Analyst : Yes. My second question was about 2 quarters back, managing, we had discussed about how Hero's head count has been divergent from the production that the company has been doing. And now I see you have announced the VRS scheme. Can you please share some detail around or how many employees you are expecting to participate in this scheme or how many employees are eligible to participate in the scheme? I see that your head count at least the permanent employees this fiscal year have been largely flattish Y-o-Y. So they would be around slightly above 9,000 and possibly another 19,000 on the temporary employees as well. So total head count about 29,000. So what kind of reduction you would be looking at?