Hero Honda, TVS take downward ride in Q2

8220;The impact on operating margins has been due to increased inflationary costs in raw materials 8212; steel, aluminum and rubber. The company has significantly countered this increase in raw material cost through improved efficiencies in production and cost management,8221; said Hero Honda managing director Pawan Kant Munjal.

The company also launched two new variants 8212; the new Glamour and Passion Plus limited edition 8212; today. It had already launched 8216;Glamour FI and CBZ X-treme models earlier this fiscal and had announced that eight new bikes, including variants will be launched in 2006-07.

The other major player in the segment Bajaj Auto had, however, ducked the trend posting a 10 per cent increase in net profit and 29 per cent jump in turnover for the second quarter. While this might indicate that Bajaj managed to absorb the rising input costs more effectively, the company8217;s focus on premium segments and the resultant jump in sales there have also contributed to it significantly.