Mudguards from India

One of the largest manufacturers of bicycle mudguards in India - Darshan Udyog is adding one more production line for making mudguards at its Ludhiana unit. “This will be the 8th production line for making mudguards and solely catered to the needs of a prominent OEM in India: Avon Cycles,” said Gurmeet Singh Kular, MD, Darshan Udyog.

The new line will be operational from January 2011. It will manufacture trendy mudguards. “Mostly the Box & Ranger types are to be manufactured on the new line,” stated Singh. The new line will produce 4,000 mudguards daily.

The parent company of Darshan Udyog’s, called Kular, started manufacturing mudguards way back in 1956 as a supplier to Hero Cycles. At that time the company developed its own machinery for making mudguards. “At that time the machinery were simple steel cutters for manufacturing simple mudguards. Since then Kular developed fully automatic machinery and is nowadays regarded as the pioneer for mudguards in the Indian bicycle industry,” claims Singh.

The big bike makers in India like Hero, Avon, TI & Atlas Cycles manufacture mudguards themselves. However, they also source them from suppliers like Darshan Udyog. Besides Darshan, Kular Cycles Industries, Amar Udyog, Arpan Cycles are some of the prominent Indian mudguard makers; all based at the hub of the Indian bicycle industry – Ludhiana.

“Some bicycle makers are manufacturing mudguards, but mainly it is sourced from suppliers,” stated Singh. Darshan Udyog has 7 plants with total capacity of producing 24,000 mudguards daily. OEMs like Avon and Hero are catered by the company.

A wide variety of mudguards are being manufactured in India. The most prominent models are: Raleigh, Ranger, Philip, Box, Concord, and SLR. But the Philip type mudguard holds the lion share in the Indian market. “75 percent of the total mudguard production comprises of Philip type models as they are fitted on the standard city bike, which has the largest market share in the Indian market,” explained Singh. Besides catering the domestic market, mudguards are being exported to various markets but mostly to the low end African market. “Most of our mudguards are shipped to Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa and Congo,” said Singh.