The Belgaum-based MG Group has set a target of doubling its revenue to over Rs 500 crore this year on the back of the tie-ups sealed with various state transport undertakings, and is also planning to launch its airport coach in January.
"As we have just completed 20 years of operations, we are focusing on contracts from the state transport undertakings (STUs)," Anil Kamat, the managing director of his family-owned MG Group told PTI.
"We've already signed with Maharashtra, Andhra, Telangana and Karnataka STUs, which together account for 50 per cent of the national bus volume. These contracts should help us double the revenue to over Rs 500 crore this year," he said.
So far in the past two decades, the company, which enjoys over 10 per cent of the organised bus body building market pie of around 90,000 units per annum, has built one lakh units. It is already building the Shivsheri brand of buses for Maharashtra State Transport Corporation, he said.
The company has also moved on from being a mere bus body builder to a bus manufacturer with two offerings - the luxury coach bus Mammoth and the tarmac coach Columbus.
It is expecting to commercially launch its first fully-built airport coach bus Columbus by January next, which is fully designed, developed and engineered by the MG Group, Kamath said. It is the country's first monocoque/ chasis-less coach bus, he claimed, adding that it is built in tie-up with the Swedish commercial vehicles major Scania.
The company is in talks with airports and airlines both in the country and abroad, Kamath said, adding that his focus will be export markets. The 44-seater Columbus will be priced almost 50 per cent cheaper than the Cobus from Germany, which costs at least Rs 2 to 3 crore.