"We have opened our first trading office in China for exporting bicycles and bicycle components to African countries," Vijay Munjal, managing director (international marketing), Hero Cycles, who also manages Hero Exports, said.
The company hopes to take advantage of the "low prices of Chinese bicycles and its components", even as several cheap Chinese goods have started flooding the Indian market.
With Chinese bicycle and bicycle components costing as much as 40 per cent cheaper than Indian bicycles and parts, Hero Exports would procure certain material from the Chinese market for export to African countries like Uganda and Nigeria.
"The company has a strong brand image in African countries and we wish to maintain the same," Munjal said.
Besides, Hero Exports plans to export its range of bicycles to European and American markets, with the aim of taking its total turnover to Rs 270 crore (Rs 2.7 billion) by the end of this fiscal. "The potential in Europe and US is quite huge for our products," he said.
Besides focusing on bicycle exports, Hero Exports, which is recognised by the Indian government as a trading house, would also concentrate on export of non-Hero group products like food grains, iron ore, auto parts, hospital equipments and steel.
The company has identified Europe, the US, Africa and Middle East countries as potential export markets for these commodities, from whose exports the company hopes to achieve a turnover of Rs 100 crore (Rs 1 billion) this fiscal.