In a web interaction with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, Bajaj gave news last year when he criticised Narendra Modi’s lock-in strategy. “Instead of the intended Covid-19 curve, the lockdown flattened the wrong curve from the economy”, said Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director of Bajaj Auto. It could not be more mistaken for Bajaj. “Lockdowns were the right strategy when we knew about the virus little and took time to develop medical capacity in line with the needs of our broad population. It saved lakhs of people’s lives. The public panic would have stopped the economy anyway if that happens. If so. And as we know now, semi-hearted measures like night curfews or lock-off weekends are of little help,” added Bajaj.
But Bajaj refuses to accept that he has been mistaken. In a February interview with NDTV, he indicated that the country had achieved herd immunity and the fall of Covid-19 in India. “We are a very populist country of relatively many uneducated, ignorant and disciplined people. As 1 lakh is affected every day, his analysis has again proved to be wrong”, said Rajiv.
Yet Bajaj can be excused for being wrong about anything about, which he knows little. But unfortunately, his judgment must also be placed on the dock to his business, which he is supposed to be an expert. The iconic Chetak scooter brand was restarted in 2019 by Rajiv Bajaj, after its end in 2005, this time as an electric vehicle. At the launch event, he dug in his characteristic style at the existing two-wheel manufacturers, in particular the start-ups.
“Battery engine manufacturers have launched electric vehicles and even more surprisingly, some of them importing television, refrigeration and mobile phones have also started to sell electric scooters. Whereas some other failed automakers have launched electric scooter products, and some more bi-wheeler manufacturers went south and invested as if this were not their job in the electric two-wheel start-ups. But we are engineers at Bajaj and are doing things of our own”, said Rajiv.
Bajaj did not appear to have been launching this new product for customer use out of passion, but made a miserable attempt to just follow the crowd and believed that the skills of his own company were superior, which would sweep the competition out of the water. The electric Chetak scooter turned out to be a dude like the joke of Bajaj. In February 2021, while in the market since October 2019, Bajaj sold only 111 units of Chetak. Its market share was small 1.83% and behind some start-ups, that Bajaj had mocked, the company was ninth. Bajaj was shocked by market leaders such as Hero, who invested in start-ups such as Ather, whereas Hero is far above the rest of the world, Ather is over-selling Chetak more than five times. Hero has 35% stakes.
One can mention many reasons for the failure of Chetak’s Poor design, unlikely to appeal for an outdated cluster of young generations of instruments which are far from what startups like Ather offer, high costs to offered features, and so forth. It does not stand out other than the title of the people who possessed this once iconic brand in the 1990s, that could cause nostalgia. In domestic motorcycle sales, Bajaj Auto had a market share of over 21 percent. Now it’s dropped to 18%Even after a split between Hero and Honda, which are currently far ahead of Bajaj individually, Bajaj Auto has been in fourth place in domestic sales since 2008. TVS also has Bajaj ahead.
