Gabriel India, ANAND Group’s flagship company, has signed a Technical Collaboration and Alliance agreement with Inalfa Roof Systems to manufacture sunroofs for the Indian automotive market. Inalfa Roof Systems is a US$1.5 billion Dutch roof systems provider for the automotive and truck industry.
Gabriel India aims to invest Rs 170 crore into the technical collaboration over the next three years, with a revenue potential of Rs 1,000 crore by 2030. The company aims to evolve the alliance into a 51:49 JV in the near term.
According to Manoj Kolhatkar, Managing Director, Gabriel India, “The penetration of sunroofs is growing in the Indian market, and particularly in the SUV segment, it is as much as 70 percent. This extension of our business is not just a one-off diversification attempt, but a hint at our strategy of venturing into other product categories.”
To start off with, the alliance will aim for localisation of Inalfa’s panoramic sunroof, starting Q1 CY24, when Gabriel India will come up with a 175,000-square-feet greenfield facility in Chennai, and commission supplies to Hyundai and Kia. Gabriel India also aims to engage with other OEMs such as Tata Motors, M&M, and Maruti Suzuki, among others, with a focus on being the leading supplier of sunroofs in India, in alignment with the Make-in-India vision, and empower the country’s self-reliance in this.
Gabriel India will localise Inalfa’s BLVS – bottom-loaded entry-level panoramic sunroof for Hyundai-Kia. According to Inalfa, the product has good acceptance around the world. The company is anticipating a 12-15 percent annual growth rate for sunroof systems in India’s passenger vehicle market in the coming years.
“This is a landmark alliance. Globally, Inalfa has a 25 percent market share in the OEM supplies of sunroof systems. The alliance comes at a very auspicious time when the market opportunities are tremendous. This alliance sees Gabriel India diversify into sunroofs, beyond its core area of suspension systems,” said Anjali Singh, Chairperson, Anand Group.
“OEMs such as Hyundai, Kia, Tata Motors, Maruti Suzuki, and M&M have expressed a long-standing need for localising sunroofs in India. Gabriel aims to cater to the industry’s requirements with this tie-up, which will soon see commissioning of a new plant near Chennai,” Singh added.