E-bike maker Kabirdass files for IPO

Pranav Nambiar

[My Addition: Electrotherm was the first company to launch electric two-wheeler in India under the brand name YO Bykes, six years ago. It is also to be noted that, Electrotherm, launched another battery-operated two-wheeler, the Yoelectron around January, 2009, after seeing the success of its YOSmart in the 250W category (premium model). Yoelectron is a battery-operated zero-pollution vehicle that can run up to 75 km per charge. The 250W motor vehicle with a 25 km per hour top speed was cleared by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Pune.

THE NEW DEVELOPMENT COULD BRING IN SOME CHEERS FOR THE SHARE HOLDERS OF ELECTROTHERM LTD. This stock was repeatedly recommended last year and early 2009, by me....]

Bangalore: Electric scooters-maker Kabirdass Motors, seeking clearance from Sebi for an initial public offering in August, plans a pan-India presence post the fund-raising.

The group company of Chennai-based auto component player Best Cast IT Ltd is looking to raise around Rs 62 crore. "We will use the IPO money as well as funds provided by our parent company to expand pan-India. We aim to open 250 sales outlets in the next 3 years," said managing director Murali Kabirdass.

The company has 30-odd outlets across Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh. Currently, it is in the process of setting up an Rs 102 crore plant in Sriperumbudur. With this, the company will ramp up production capacity to 10,000 units in the next two years from the current 2,000.

Since its incorporation over 2 years back, Kabirdass has sold around 2,000 units of its five electric scooter models under the brand name of Xite. Four of its models can run up to 25 km per hour, while one can go up to 70 kmph.

"Our R&D team is working to build more powerful scooters. Also, we are building higher capacity scooters that can ride up to 200 km on a single charge from the current 70 km," added Kabirdass.

Kabirdass said that the vehicle is targeted at college students, senior citizens, and housewives. "With the rising cost of fuel and the ever-increasing pollution levels these environment-friendly vehicles are becoming popular," he added.

To make its mark in newer markets, the company is earmarking around Rs 25 crore for branding and promotions. It's also in talks with a European company to work on its designs to suit requirements of all kinds of buyers.

There are around 60-odd electric scooters manufacturers in the country, many of whom are smaller players who import most of their parts from China. Around 10,000-12,000 units of these scooters are sold in month in India.