Insync Bikes named in top 10 fastest growing Indian-owned companies in UK

Manchester-headquartered Insync Bikes has been named one of the fastest-growing Indian-owned companies in the UK after seeing growth of 43% in the last year.

Insync Bikes is owned by India’s Hero Cycles and the company has just accepted a Tracker Award in London after appearing in Grant Thornton’s annual India meets Britain tracker report, produced in collaboration with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII).

The tracker report was formally launched in the capital and tracks Indian-owned companies with a turnover of more than £5 million pounds and year-on-year revenue growth of at least 10% and a minimum two-year track record in the UK. Out of 37 Indian owned companies meeting the criteria, the report named Insync as the seventh fastest-growing.

Lord Gerry Grimstone Minister for Investment in the UK’s Department for International Trade (DIT) presented the Tracker Award to Gopal Krishan, Insync’s head of business at the event.

Insync Bikes’ executive director Raman Awasthi said Insync sold more than 50,000 bikes in retail in the year to November 2020, a 200% increase on the previous year. It sold a further 186,000 bikes in 2021.

Awasthi said sales are being driven by a surge in the demand for bikes as a healthier form of commuting and exercise. Awasthi said women’s hybrid and mountain bikes and children’s bikes in the range of £350-£500 experienced ‘unprecedented’ levels of demand in 2020/21 and the business is now looking to expand its offering.

He said: “We are honoured to receive this prestigious award. Hero Cycles is committed to investments in the UK and to helping establish a deeper, more mutually beneficial relationship between the UK and India.

“Insync Bikes is a shining example of that. I’m sure with the truly global talent resource we have in our organisation we will further write this story. We thank Grant Thornton and CII for recognising our growth in this report.

“Insync Bikes now has around 10% of the UK bike market and we plan to double that to around 20% in the next two years with a focus on a premium range of bikes and new range e-bikes, launched as part of our new partnership with the German e-bike manufacturer HNF GmbH, which is also a Hero International company and will bring German precision research and development to the UK.”

Awasthi said sales from independent bike dealers have contributed significantly to the growth, with the business looking to increase its network of shops from 300 in 2019 to 700 by 2022.

He said Insync is planning major shipments of bikes including e-bikes, road bikes, kids bikes and women’s bikes throughout 2022. He added that the recruitment of IBDs as a volume driver has been supported, in part, by the company’s ability to quickly scale up manufacturing due to its manufacturing capability in India and Sri Lanka.

In April, Insync announced plans to add a new e-cycle assembly line within its manufacturing facility in Manchester which will produce high-end, IoT enabled electric cycles and push bikes for customers in the UK and EU.

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The Grant Thornton report further found the number of Indian-owned companies operating in the UK has risen from 850 to 900 in the last year.

“India is a very special place, and its growth has been nothing short of remarkable,” said Lord Grimstone. “This growing, confident, outward-looking India has benefited the world and certainly benefited the UK.

“Our relationship is defined by our peoples, our mutual investment and mutual trade. In the last five years, Indian investment into the UK has more than quadrupled and we calculate that it supports almost half a million jobs on our shores,” he said, pointing to the ongoing India-UK free trade agreement (FTA) negotiation as the “biggest deal yet to come”.