Interview with Mr. Gagan Pal, Vice President, Sales & Marketing by Nimish Gangrade.
23 August 2021, New Delhi: Honda India Power Products Limited(HIPP) has completed 35 years of its operations in India. During the course of this journey, HIPPhas gained 5 million customers in India and overseas.
It is one of the first Japanese conglomerates to enter the Indian market in 1985 and thereby contributed to strengthening economic relations between India & Japan. Since inception, the company has been providing innovative, eco-friendly & best-in-class products to its customers across India in the field of power backup, agriculture & construction.
In conversation with Mr. Gagan Pal, Vice President – Sales & Marketing, Honda India Power Products Ltd., below Q&A discusses more about the company’s performance, challenges in the market and plan for 2021.
Q. How is the year outlook so far for 2021 for Honda India Power Products (Product launches, Segment Growth, Market Share, Future product strategy)
A. 2021 has been a good year for us so far. We could deliver a better business performance as compared to last year, wherein initial quarter saw extended periods of lockdowns amidst the unravelling pandemic. Agricultural sector has led the economic recovery and the same is also evident from the demand for our agricultural range of power products like Power Tillers, Portable Water Pumps and Honda 4 Stroke engine powered Sprayers & Reapers. In line with our belief of agricultural sector leading the economic recovery, we have launched new models in our Water Pump and Power Tiller categories thereby reaching out to new markets by expanding these well accepted product portfolios. Slew of product launches in the last 5 years has laid a solid foundation for further increasing our footprint in Agriculture and Construction markets. We have been a part of India’s growth story for the last 35 years and are bullish for the future as well.
HIPP has been at the forefront of leading the transition in Agricultural mechanization and had introduced environment friendly 4 stroke technology powered products way back in 1985 when company started operations in India. Trust put in us by the Indian customer has always inspired us to strive harder in our pursuit to provide technically advanced and environment friendly solutions to meet customer’s needs.
HIPP today commands over 40% share in the Power products market and its technically advanced products like Power Tillers, Water Pumps, Brush Cutters offer unmatched durability and portability to its valued customers and are increasingly replacing bulky, polluting Diesel engine powered agricultural products due to superior product performance and less acquisition and operating costs.
Q. What is Honda India Power Product Ltd planning for the Indian market for rest of 2021? Also tell us about your forecast for agriculture industry in 2021. (Segment specific)
A.For the last 35 years, HIPP has been the preferred choice of customers worldwide and has powered the dreams of over 5 million happy users by “Empowering them to do better”. We are highly committed to provide latest technology in all our product offerings. We manufacture and market a range of portable generators, water pumps, tillers and general-purpose engine at our manufacturing facility at Greater Noida. We are also engaged in the marketing of lawnmower, brush cutter and long-tailed outboard engines.
HIPP with its recent launch of New Models of Gasoline run Portable water pumps and powerful 5.5hp Power tiller is proactively reaching out to its prospective customers in the agricultural markets showcasing Honda’s legendary 4 Stroke technology powered products and their efficacy in mitigating the problems being faced by the farmers in their routine work. These New Models while being portable are quite robust and will help HIPP to reach out to new areas offering them cost effective and environment friendly solution for their long-standing problems. HIPP has commissioned its own Demo vehicles to showcase these products in traditional and emerging markets, these Demo Vans will act as a force multiplier for HIPP’S frontline team of Demo Men who work in close coordination with our channel partners across the country to help prospective customers get an “ON Hands” experience of what it feels like to operate these revolutionary products in the actual field conditions.
With limited movement of customers due to extended period of lockdowns in various parts of the country, HIPP will strengthen its Demo activity while abiding with prevalent COVID19 guidelines and reach out to as many customers as possible.
Q. How is the company managing counterfeit products in the market at dealer level?
A. Honda India Power Products (HIPP) is a leading company in the field of Power Products which has been manufacturing world class power products and has been offering its product portfolio to its valued customers in India for over 35 years. “Honda” brand of power products has been the industry benchmark for over three decades and owing to its widespread acceptability across agriculture and construction sectors our products have started to attract the attention of counterfeiters off late. To discourage this malpractice, we have proactively started to educate and spread awareness in the market about easy identification of genuine Honda products based on product attributes by launching campaigns like “Know your Honda” on both online and offline platforms and provide easy access to brand’s authorized sales & service channel with an aim to guide potential customers.
We at HIPP are committed to provide original Honda products to our valued customers and through our IP Cell we actively monitor all Online and offline sales platforms to flag such unscrupulous activity and to pursue stringent action against such law breakers. HIPP has also decided to prominently display relevant Sales promotion material at all its dealerships to help customers identify a genuine Honda product by its unique features.
Q. Has HIPP offered any customer benefit schemes with the 2nd lockdown (Warranty extension, Discounts, etc)
A. HIPP has always tried to meet and exceed customer expectations amidst dynamic business circumstances, Understanding the changed usage conditions during the COVID19 Pandemic, HIPP had offered extended warranty schemes to its customers assuring them peace of mind during extended period of lockdown.
