The strong double-digit growth in air suspension business in FY26 was driven by higher content per vehicle, growing intercity transport and growing penetration of EVs, among other reasons, Srivats Ram, Chairman and Managing Director, Wheels India, told shareholders at the company’s 67th Annual General Meeting held virtually on Wednesday.
“We continue to invest in the alloy wheels segment and will strive for higher volumes in the coming years,” he said on the prospects in the alloy wheels segment.
Bullish on wind mill business
Ram was positive of the growth in the component business catering to the wind mill industry in FY27. He said that business grew 14 per cent last year, driven by new businesses from the offshore segment. “We are likely to see growth both in India and overseas markets. In addition, we continue to invest in and grow the business of machining of large castings for this sector,” he said.
He struck a note of caution citing inflation concerns on commodity prices due to the West Asia crisis, but was hopeful of the prices stabilising as the year progressed.
Left to right, Directors M.P. Vijay Kumar and S. Viji, CMD Srivats Ram, Director Harsha Viji and
CFO P. Ramesh at the Wheels India AGM.
Answering shareholder queries, Ram said that the company is planning a capex of around ₹300 crore this year towards tractor, wind mill, hydraulic cylinders and air suspension segments.
The company is also focused on growth of its construction equipment and agri tractor businesses globally. “The company has a leadership position in the construction equipment segment and we would like to achieve that in the agri tractor segment as well globally,” he said.
Answering another shareholder’s question on the growth strategy, he said, “We are looking to ramp up machining of large castings. The cast aluminum business is on a low base currently and we have been able to get new businesses from a number of Indian OEMs. We should be able to ramp up this business this year.”
Wheels India registered a net profit of ₹139 crore in FY26 on revenue of ₹5,124 crore.