Aston Seals

Aston makes wiper seals, rod seals, piston seals, guide rings and lathe cut products for hydraulic manufactures, off-the-road vehicles and construction equipment. It makes around 20 million pieces in 30 families of components. While there is a demand from Indian market for about 5,000 varieties of seals and rings manufactured by Aston, only about 10 per cent of it are sold by three dealers (two in Bangalore and one in Chennai), he said. Therefore, the scope for providing complete solutions to customers was minimal, he said. Seals play a vital role in performance of hydraulics in terms of efficiency and enhanced machine available time. The market size in India for these products is about €50 million and over 80 per cent of it is controlled by few European and American MNCs including NOK-Freudenberg, Busak+Shamban, Hallite and Parker. Aston holds about 10 per cent market share in Italy, which is the second largest market in Europe for hydraulic seals. The current size of Italian market for these products is €50 million growing at 1-2 per cent a year. "Though India is equal to Italy at present in terms of market size, it has been growing at around 10 per cent a year. The Indian market will double in five years and we cannot afford to miss this opportunity," he said. "At present our revenue from India through the three dealers is around €80,000 a year. Our plan is to have 10 - 15 dealerships and we hope to get more than €1 million in two-three years," he said. The company is present in 38 countries and the total sales in 2007 were €8.5 million (Rs 58 crore). This year it will cross €10 million, he added.