Ashok Leyland hopes to be debt free in two years

Chennai, Nov 9 (IANS) With truck sales expected to pick up from third quarter for the current fiscal, commercial vehicle major Ashok Leyland on Monday said that it hopes to be debt free in two years.Addressing reporters here, Wholetime Director and CFO Gopal Mahadevan also said the company has spent about Rs 270 crore towards capex this fiscal out the planned amount of about Rs 700 crore.He said Ashok Leyland has reduced its net debt by Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 3,076 crore.At the end of last fiscal, the company had a debt of about Rs 2,800 crore and borrowed more to manage liquidity position owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.According to Mahadevan, the debt was brought down later as the volumes picked up during the second quarter.He said the sales volumes are expected to hit pre-Covid-19 levels during the third and fourth quarters.As regards exports, Mahadevan said the markets in Sri Lanka, Central Asia and Bangladesh are yet to open and new markets like South East Asia are being looked at.
--IANS vj/vd