American super-premium bicycle-maker Trek Bicycle is seeing demand for its products pick up and Navneet Banka, the country manager for the brand in India believes that this is just the start for the manufacturer. That said, while these bicycles only form a niche market in India, accounting for just 0.2 per cent of the market with a demand of around 30,000 cycles per year, but Banka believes that the market can grow at 25 per cent per year in the years going forward. The industry, he claimed is worth around Rs 160 crore annually including sales of accessories.
“More and more people are cycling for leisure and recreation and there is also a growing demand from athletes whether they are amateurs in cycling clubs but also a growing number of professionals”, Banka told The Pioneer. And in order to promote the nascent industry, the maker has started offering its entry-level mountain cycles on a six-month interest-free payment program. “The growth of cycling clubs both road-racing in the south and mountain-biking in the north has been a huge boon, and this has been aided by several cycling groups”, he added saying that most Sunday mornings at Delhi’s India Gate you can see about a hundred cyclists on these types of bicycling enjoying themselves. And contests run in the North and South by cycling groups are getting large amounts of participation.
“Indians are watching cycling events on television and most importantly they are getting into the spirit of fitness. Some of the customers we have for our high-end cycles are runners who are moving into the Triathalon space. There is also a huge growth in competitive cycling in India as well”, Banka added and mentioned that the manufacturer was now sponsoring India’s leading road race cyclist Kiran Kumar Raju.