Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) is looking to introduce more affordable two-wheelers to capture the rural two-wheeler market

Taking a leaf out of the well-honed strategy of the Munjals, its erstwhile partners, HMSI is now working towards spreading its wings to far-flung towns as it aims to grow its market share in India.

The heart of the strategy is to bring in more mass market models and penetrate deeper by setting up 10 zonal offices across the country to be closer to the customer and react faster. 

ET learns this is part of HMSI's five-pronged approach to gain market share in India. Other than reaching out to smaller towns and rural areas, the Japanese giant's India arm plans to build a mass market product portfolio, consolidate its leadership in scooters, use Bollywood star Akshay Kumar as a brand ambassador and work with vendors to bring down costs. 

YS Guleria, vice president, sales & marketing at HMSI, says entry-level bike Dream Yuga is the biggest launch for the company in recent years and will give it a presence in over half of the market for two-wheelers. Also Read: Honda launches Dream Yuga: Updated

"We want to be closer to the market with the launch of Dream Yuga. For the first time, we are going beyond regional offices to zonal offices and we are going to equip each of these zonal offices with training centers," said Guleria. In the current fiscal year, HMSI will add 500 touch points, many of which will be in smaller towns and rural areas.

Dream Yuga in the existing form will take on Hero's Passion, but going ahead there will be more motorcycles under the Dream series. 

The next variant is expected to take on Hero MotoCorp's flagship bike, the Splendor, said people close to the development. 

With the Dream Yuga in its portfolio, HMSI is aiming to grow by over 30% this fiscal by selling 2.75 million two wheelers. The company is also planning to boost capacity to 4 million units a year later.