Till Truck Body Works- Bringing in 'Organized' to an Unorganized Bodybuilding Industry

In a segment that is largely unorganized, change is coming rapidly. Inserting engineering and AIS approvals into the works of vehicle body building is the key to this. And Truck Body Works (TBW), an off-shoot of Tube Investments of India Limited was founded for this exact purpose. In an exclusive interview with N. Balasubramanian, V. Vijayakumar, Head – Business Development & Operations reveals the company’s vision and strategy in pounding this sector into shape.

Strength lies in structure. And it is true for rough and tumble vehicles such as trucks. And the purpose of founding Truck Body Works (TBW) in 2018 was exactly this – to bring engineering into truck body building.

Its parent company, Tube Investment of India Ltd. (TII) is part of INR 369 bn Murugappa Group which was founded in 1959 following a merger between TI Cycles of India and Tube Products of India. A decade prior to this, TI Cycles of India entered the manufacturing business with bicycle production.

The onus of carrying forward TII’s legacy of manufacturing quality products for the automotive industry among others lay solidly on the fledging company’s sturdy shoulders. Today, TBW, as an off-shoot of TII, is focused on providing engineered bodybuilding solutions to the ‘big boys of the road’, i.e. the trucks and trailers.

TBW has made a name for itself in providing advanced engineering solutions that meet the stringent standards of AIS and ARAI.

Why ‘grey’ rules the roost?

Indian bodybuilding industry has largely remained underdeveloped over decades despite the advancement in technology and modernization of vehicle design concepts, unlike in countries abroad. But change is coming.

Vijayakumar says: “This is an attractive industry to be in. Even though the profitability may be low, there is consistency in cash flow. When you look at the entire value chain of funding norms for a commercial vehicle, you are able to leverage every possible opportunity except for the bodybuilding part of it. NBFC does not fund bodybuilding activity because it is about 12% of the entire value of the product and is about 25% in bulkers or trailers. We found that the underwriting is not being done because it is an unorganized segment and that is why TBW came into being.”