The Hindu : Ashok Leyland starts exports to Iraq

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 08, 2004

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Business

Ashok Leyland starts exports to Iraq

MUMBAI, FEB. 7. The Hinduja group flagship company, Ashok Leyland, today shipped its first export consignment of 200 `Cargo 912' trucks to Iraq, out of a total of 3,322 vehicles, under the United Nation's `Iraq Reconstruction Project'.

The company would supply 1,661 trucks each to the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Transport, Government of Iraq, under a $46 million contract, Ashok Leyland General Manager (Exports), Ram Cowsik, told reporters here.

The trucks would be provided after-sales support, which included supply of spare parts, overhauling and maintenance by the company's customer service support centre in Dubai and network dealers in the Gulf region, he said.

The consignment is marked to Umm Qaser Port in Iraq and would be then moved to Baghdad, he said. The next consignment of trucks is expected to be shipped in the next 25-30 days, he said adding, the ship MV Rose would make round trips to Iraq. The company expects to complete the exports by October, he said. Under a separate contract, Ashok Leyland is supplying 500 mini-buses to Ministry of Transport, Iraq. The buses were being assembled in Egypt and exports had already begun, he said.

The truck-maker had exported 2,550 vehicles in 2002-03, accounting for over Rs. 200 crore revenue, while that for the nine-month period of the current fiscal it was 2,275, he added. It had supplied 75 buses to Afghanistan and a new order for 46 buses is under execution, he said.

PTI

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