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Two-wheeler makers Royal Enfield, Bajaj Auto and Hero MotoCorp posted record revenue from sales of branded, genuine parts - like brake pads, headlights and speedometer - accessories and merchandise in FY24. At their post-earnings investor calls, company executives attributed this to the market for such items becoming more organised and buyers giving preference to branded spares over non-branded ones. Additionally, a superior product mix - higher contribution of premium models in the sales mix and an expansion in the product portfolio in the aftermarket segment - also helped companies boost revenue and profitability, they said.At Hero MotoCorp, revenue from spare parts and accessories increased nearly 80% in five years to a record Rs 5,087 crore in FY24 from Rs 2,836 crore in FY19. The share of this sub-segment in the company's revenue rose to 13.6% from 8.7% in this period, show its filings. Encouraged by the growth potential, the maker of the Xpulse and Splendor motorcycles will be expanding its Global Parts Centre. "Our parts, accessories, merchandise (PAM) business continues to grow. It grew double digits in the last three to four years; we've doubled the whole revenue size of the PAM business," Hero MotoCorp chief executive Niranjan Kumar Gupta said on an investor call last week. There is scope in even expanding this, which is what the teams are working on, he added.The addition of premium motorcycles in the company's line-up will increase the scope of business from merchandise and premium parts, he added. The company has added to tyre and bike care products and that too helped boost revenue from the segment.110156999"Post Covid, organised spare part sales have picked up rapidly as many unorganised players got wiped out prompting manufacturers to increase focus on the high margin spare business in the last three-four years," said DAM Capital Advisors analyst Mitul Shah. He expects revenue contribution from this business segment to the total revenue of these companies to increase to mid-to-high teens.Royal Enfield, the market leader in the middleweight motorcycle segment, has also been a beneficiary of the premiumisation trend in the market. The motorcycle-making arm of Eicher Motors, which also sells branded apparels, jackets, caps and t-shirts apart from accessories and spares, has seen the non-motorcycle revenue touch Rs 2,439 crore - the highest in the company's history, managing director Siddhartha Lal told reporters during an earnings call over the weekend.

India is considering formulating standard operating procedures (SOP) for negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) as the country is engaging with several trade partners for such pacts, an official said. To discuss the various aspects of these agreements, the commerce ministry is organising a two-day 'Chintan Shivir' on FTA strategy and SOPs for trade negotiations. Former commerce secretaries, industry experts and government officials would participate in the deliberations on May 16-17 at Neemrana, Rajasthan. Various issues that would come up for deliberations include India's trade strategy and vision 2047; economic assessment and modelling of FTAs; inclusion of new disciplines into FTAs such as labour, environment, gender, indigenous people; services and digital trade; SOPs for FTA negotiations; and industry experience on utilisation of the FTAs. A separate session is being organised on leveraging India's FTAs to address new forms/kind of measures such as CBAM (carbon border adjustment mechanism), supply chain disruptions, critical minerals, and artificial intelligence. "We are doing many FTAs and so we are making a SOP on how to go about them. The Chintan Shivir is on that only. How we will do capacity building, how to approach different countries and how to do an economic analysis. So these are technical issues and we will have discussions on these issues," the official said. The consultations assume significance as India is negotiating trade pacts with the UK, the EU (European Union), Peru, and a comprehensive trade deal with Australia. It is also in talks with the Eurasian Economic Union for a trade agreement. India's goods and services exports in 2023-24 reached an all-time high of USD 778.2 billion, up 0.23 per cent from USD 776.4 billion in 2022-23. The country has inked trade pacts with Mauritius, the UAE, Australia and the European Free Trade Association since 2021.

The Indian market snapped a 3-day winning streak to close in the red on Wednesday, tracking muted global cues.The S&P BSE Sensex fell more than 100 points while the Nifty50 managed to hold on to 22,200 levels towards the close of the trade.Sectorally, buying was seen in the public sector, power, and capital goods stocks while selling was visible in banks, auto and FMCG space.Stocks that were in focus on Wednesday include names like Thermax which rose over 8% to hit a fresh record high, Siemens was up more than 7% and Adani Power closed with gains of nearly 2%.We have collated a list of three stocks that either hit a fresh 52-week high, or an all-time high or saw a volume or a price breakout.We spoke to an analyst on how one should look at these stocks the next trading day entirely from an educational point of view: Here what analyst Sanket Thakar (CMT, Founder- Alpha Bot Capital) had to say:ThermaxThermax is in an uptrend in both intraday and positional timeframes, after Wednesday's breakout from Symmetrical Triangle pattern.It is expected to go for its upper trendline resistance in the coming days at the level of 5,460. The support below is placed at the lower trendline level of 4,586. 110155094SiemensSiemens has been in a strong uptrend for a while now. It has achieved all its previous intraday chart pattern targets, which could attract profit booking by short-term traders at this level.In the coming few days, it can retrace a bit down at Fibonacci levels 6,959 - 6,787 & 6,650 levels. For positional & long-term investors, the trend still is positive and on the upside. 110155087Adani PowerAdani Power hit its all-time high space with a fresh breakout on intraday charts suggesting a further upside move is in play.The targets are 656 & 676 in the near future and support is placed below 570 levels. 110155076(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views, and opinions given by experts are their own. These do not represent the views of the Economic Times)