Excise duty cut: Hero MotoCorp joins Honda in slashing two-wheeler prices

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) and Hero MotoCorp have slashed product prices after the excise duty reduction announced in the Interim Budget 2014-15.

HMSI cut prices by up to Rs 7,600 while Hero MotoCorp reduced rates by up to Rs 4,500.

Presenting the Interim Budget on Monday, Finance Minister P Chidambaram had announced reduction in excise duty on small car, motorcycles, scooter and commercial vehicles to 8 per cent from 12 per cent, and on SUVs to 24 per cent from 30 per cent.

In a bid to provide relief to the automobile industry, where sales have declined, the government had lowered excise duty till June 30.

"We have decided to pass on the entire benefit of the excise duty cut to our customers. We have judiciously spread out the price cut across our product portfolio ranging from 2 per cent going up to 5 per cent with the maximum reduction being Rs 4,500," Hero MotoCorp said in a statement.

Hero MotoCorp's bike portfolio includes Karizma ZMR, Impulse, Splendor and Glamour.

Welcoming the cut in excise or factory gate duty, HMSI said it has "decided to pass the full benefit of 4 per cent excise duty reduction on two-wheelers to its valued customers across India with immediate effect".

The price benefit starts from minimum of Rs 1,600 on Dream Neo motorcycle, priced between Rs 43,150 and Rs 47,289, and goes up to Rs 7,600 on CBR 250R performance bike tagged between Rs 1.58 lakh and Rs 1.93 lakh (ex-showroom Delhi).

HMSI sells a range of scooters including the Activa and Deo, and motorcycles such as Dream Yuga, CB Stunner, CB Unicorn and CB Twister among others.