Ashok Leyland: Gulf Demand Strong, Launches Twin-Fuel LCVs

New Delhi, Apr 16 (PTI) Commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland on Thursday said the demand in the Middle East is intact; however, production at its UAE-based unit faced some impact due to supply-chain disruptions.

About the possible impact of ongoing geopolitical tensions in West Asia on the company's FY27 performance, Ashok Leyland President-LCV, IO, Defence & Power Solutions, Amandeep Singh, said, "It's too early" to assess, though the underlying economic momentum in India remains strong.

He added that there can be some disruption due to 'shortage and logistics' issues from the impact of West Asia disruption, but said the situation is expected to "bounce back" quickly.

"We have earlier seen this, we can bounce back pretty quickly, but it is very difficult right now to hazard any guesses, or forecast on the growth percentage. All we have to keep an eye on is the GST collections, on the e-Way bills, which are very important for the economy as an indicator," he said.

Ashok Leyland has a good presence in the Middle East, which is anchored by its manufacturing facility in Ras Al Khaimah (RAK), UAE, which serves as a hub for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and African markets.

The company is significantly expanding its footprint by establishing a new assembly plant in Saudi Arabia.

Singh said the company has not seen any "slack in the demand" in the GCC market.

"The demand in the Middle East countries are very strong, continues to hold, and we have not seen any order cancellations that have happened," said Singh.

However, on the supply side, there have been "logistic issues of getting the parts and components" going there, which has forced production to "come down" a bit during March.


"We are trying to make efforts for alternate routes and logistic arrangements, so that we can reach the parts there and our plant is functioning. Our manpower is there, and I think we can bounce back very shortly," he said.

Asked about the expected timeframe for attaining normalcy at the RAK plant, Singh replied, "It's difficult to say". However, when the war is over, it will be a matter of days because most of our components are manufactured in India and then shipped to Ras Al Khaimah.

"It's not too much of a distance, and we can do it in a matter of days," he said.

Ashok Leyland had a record-breaking performance in FY26, in which the Hinduja group firm achieved a revenue of Rs 11,534 crore, driven by strong sales of Medium and Heavy Commercial Vehicles (MHCV) and Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV).

When asked if Ashok Leyland would repeat a similar kind of performance or expect some impact, Singh said: "If we can get it over quickly", it would not have an impact as FY27 has just started.

"We should also remember that last year, it was the second half which had a big increase. The first half did have a lower base. Therefore, we are still confident that in FY27, the momentum that we saw in FY26, and particularly in the second half of FY26, will continue because the economy is doing well," said Singh.

According to him, the Iran war can give an impetus to electric vehicle (EV) sales, and Ashok Leyland is well prepared for that.

"Our Dost and Bada Dost (of LCV range) vehicles are already available in the EV, and we are selling them in good numbers already," he said, adding, "We have a very good market share through our subsidiary Switch in the two to four tonnes category.

Ashok Leyland on Thursday announced the launch of twin fuel variants of its LCV – DOST and DOST+ XL - which allow switching between Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) and petrol.