COVER STORY
Veera Vahana emerging as India’s
fastest growing bus-body builder
- K. Gopalakrishnan
Mr. K. Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director
Recently we wrote about how China
could well become the bus manufac-
turing hub of the world. There are
more than 50 established bus manu-
facturers catering to both the domestic
and export market. In sharp contrast,
India’s bus industry is still a long way
to go. We just have a handful of bus
body builders spread across the
country catering to most of the do-
mestic requirement.
As in the other industries, India is
catching up in bus business as well
with the emergence of new bus
manufacturers who aspire to become
global players in the years to come.
One such company is the Bangalore-
based Veera Vahana Udyog Private
Ltd., which has made tremendous
MI-Jul-08-final.pmd 52
progress in a very short period of
time.
With 1,100 buses on road in a
short span of three years since in-
ception in 2004, Veera is clearly
India’s fastest growing bus manufac-
turer. And it’s not stopping there. “By
2015, we want to be India’s leading
manufacturer of buses”, says Mr. K.
Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director of
the company.
Veera was founded in 2004 by a
young team of professionals headed
by Mr. Srinivas Reddy. His passion
was to establish a modern manufac-
turing facility for building luxury
buses. Accordingly, the company set
up a state-of-the-art bus body build-
ing facility on the outskirts of Banga-
52 MOTORINDIA  JULY 2008
6/30/2008, 7:44 PM
lore over an area of 8.5 acres.
Mr. Srinivas Reddy is a first gen-
eration entrepreneur. An engineer
from REC, he has been a technocrat
right from day one. After working on
a few turnkey projects, including fab-
ricating paint booths for auto majors,
executing power projects and even
implementing some IT projects, he
decided to focus on his dream project
of bus building.
“We established Veera Vahana
Udyog towards the end of 2004, and
by May 2005 the first bus rolled out
of the production line”, says Mr.
Reddy. Once the company started
commercial production, there was no
looking back. In the very first year
Veera sold 206 buses, in the second

year 311 buses and in the third year
434 buses. The company has estab-
lished the facility to manufacture
1,000 buses and hopes to achieve
this volume by 2009-10.
“Right from the first year there was
no dearth of orders. Thanks to the
efforts put up by all the members of
the team in delivering a high quality
buses. In the current year we are tar-
geting to sell 600 buses”, says Mr.
Srinivas. From the very beginning,
he has nurtured a pioneering spirit,
one that still drives innovation
and exploration of new tech-
nologies. Veera today prides it-
self on manufacturing buses
that deliver passenger safety,
cutting-edge technology and a
genuine focus on customer
needs.
The company is dedicated to
the highest quality bus manu-
facturing and believes in con-
tinuous improvement, setting
new standards and pushing
MI-Jul-08-final.pmd 53
technology to new heights. Thorough
attention to detail in the design stage
and in the manufacturing process,
Veera’s buses provide greater reli-
ability and less vehicle down-time.
Veera currently manufacturers AC
deluxe buses, non-AC deluxe buses,
AC sleeper coaches, non-AC sleeper
coaches, as well as AC mofussil and
tarmac coaches. “We build accord-
ing to specifications that confirm to
customer requirements. We have
standardised body frame works by
53 MOTORINDIA  JULY 2008
6/30/2008, 7:44 PM
COVER STORY
building them off jig. We also have
our own fibre glass front and fibre
glass rear on all our buses”, adds Mr.
Srinivas Reddy.
Veera is also one of the major
players in the air-conditioned bus
segment. The company has till date
built over 250 air-conditioned buses.
There is a growing demand for AC
buses, and this year the company is
targeting more such buses. In fact,
KSRTC has now introduced Sheetal
A/C Bus, similar to the Garib Rath
introduced by Railways. These
buses have a seating capac-
ity of over 60 seats and are
fitted with AC. The idea is to
provide AC comfort to cus-
tomers at a nominal cost. The
response has been over-
whelming, and KSRTC plans
to add more such buses for
the convenience of passen-
gers.
Veera has managed to es-
tablish very strong relation-
 COVER STORY
ship with its customers and in the last
three years the company has been
receiving repeat orders from most of
its customers. Veera has over 100
customers as on date, including
transport corporations like KSRTC,
APSRTC and NWKRTC.
Infrastructure and
production facility
Veera has set up a state-of-the-art
manufacturing facility for buses, fully
equipped with all the necessary
manufacturing processes right from
day one. The factory has been set
up on a 8.5 acres of land with the
main floor built on an area of
68,000 sq. ft. This whole area is pil-
larless and can accommodate con-
struction of 65 to 70 buses at any
given time. The company has in-
MI-Jul-08-final.pmd 54
The winning Veera Vahana team
stalled a Sophisticated & Ultra Mod-
ern Paint Booth in which Painting &
painting preparation can be carried
out for 10 vehicles at a time. For fer-
rous materials an anticorrosive treat-
ment and hot phosphating plant has
been installed. Veera has also set up
a manufacturing facility for FRP As-
semblies. The company has so far
invested Rs. 16 crores on establish-
ing this facility.
Veera is working on a new bus
model which it plans to launch be-
fore the end of this year. The new
product, Mr. Srinivas says, will be
completely different from the exist-
ing product in terms of the exterior
and interior. The company is also try-
ing to use new material and there
will be vast difference in the quality
54 MOTORINDIA  JULY 2008
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and design of the product.
In the next phase, Veera is plan-
ning to establish its second manufac-
turing facility where it plans to get into
mass production of buses, particularly
for the city bus segment. Mr. Srinivas
Reddy feels that the city bus market
will witness exponential growth as
most of transport corporations are
replenishing their fleet.
“Today a high-end city bus costs Rs.
80 lakhs, and if we can provide a
good city bus with comparable fea-
tures at half the price, then most of
the transport corporations will look at
even replacing the entire fleet. We
would like to position ourselves as a
premium bus manufacturer. Even if
we get into the mass segment we will
still continue to operate in the pre-
mium segment. We are also plan-
ning to get into the Integral coach
business by launching our own Veera
range of buses”, adds Mr. Srinivas.
Intergral coaches is another very
big opportunity which Veera is look-
ing to capitalise on. As more and
more private bus operators and even
transport corporations are looking at
fully built solutions, the market for
integral coaches will witness expo-
nential growth in the coming years.
The company is already working on
its Integral coach business and hopes
to roll out the first bus by 2010.
Veera is also looking at tie-up with
European bus manufacturers. When
Volvo launched its buses in India, it
 COVER STORY

had a tie-up with Jaico for building

bus bodies. Mercedes has tied up with
Sutlej for building its buses.
Marcopolo has a JV with Tata Mo-
tors, and Scania has also announced
its intention to enter the Indian bus
market.
Veera is actively looking for an
opportunity to have a tie-up with a
global bus manufacturer. Discussion
is on with a few manufacturers, and
a final decision will be taken in the
next few months. Veera is also look-
ing at the opportunity of exporting its
buses.
Once the bus business is estab-
lished, the company is planning to
look at the opportunity for manufac- many other manufacturers take de- people. Given the kind of growth the
turing tippers and special-purpose cades to achieve. The success of the company has achieved in the first few
vehicles. This will again be a major company is mainly due to untiring years, Veera is well on its way to be-
growth area, according to Mr. efforts of Mr. Srinivas Reddy and his come a leader in the bus manufac-
Srinivas. dedicated team of professionals. turing industry.
Veera has managed to do what Veera today employs over 450 

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