Everyone’s life has been completely out of gear since the outbreak of the pandemic. For fitness freaks who used to regularly hit the gyms, their routine has hit a roadblock. It’s due to all these factors that there has been a surge in the demand for cycles across India.
As a result what used to be once considered a poor man’s ride is fast becoming a medium of transport for many, besides, of course, being a source of exercise. “From selling 1.25 lakh cycles every month (2019) we are now selling close to 1.75 lakh cycles every month, since June 2020. Besides, the demand for high-end cycles with gears has increased manifold. As a result of which, we have scaled up our production from manufacturing 25,000 high-end cycles every month in 2019 to 50,000 in July 2020,” says Rishi Pahwa, Joint Managing Director, Avon Cycles.
Interestingly, there is no demand for Chinese cycles, and this has given a further boost to manufacturers of the Indian cycle manufacturing sector. There has also been a surge in the demand for gym equipment for personal usages – like stationary cycles, cross trainers, etc. A lot of people are buying these to workout at home. “In the non-gym segment, we used to sell close to Rs1.5 crore worth of fitness equipment every month for domestic use in 2019. This has increased to Rs4 crore since June 2020,” Pahwa added.
According to estimates, cycle production in India was 1.1 crore annually, and this has increased by over 25 per cent. The highest growth has been in the high-end fancy cycles (over 150 per cent).
Sales are booming
Standard cycles cost around Rs3,600. The hybrid range begins from Rs4,500 and goes up to Rs80,000 or even Rs1,00,000. Cycles with gears sell for Rs15,000 to Rs40,000. Sales of cycles have doubled in small shops. “I used to sell around 25 cycles on an average every day; this has doubled since the lockdown was eased,” says Shanti Swaroop, a cycle-shop owner in Delhi.
-
When in doubt pedal it out
