Muhammad Ayub Ali :
Atlas Bangladesh Limited and Runner Trade Park Limited have established a joint venture to set up a helmet manufacturing plant, “Atlas-Runner Helmet Plant,” at the Atlas facility in Tongi. The factory, which will operate in two phases, has an initial investment of Tk 18 crore, with Tk 9 crore invested by each company, according to Azibor Rahman, Managing Director of Atlas Bangladesh.
“We will produce four types of helmets, but initially, we will focus on producing two types: half-face helmets and full-face helmets,” Rahman explained. The plant will have an annual production capacity of over 600,000 helmets and is expected to create nearly 100 employment opportunities, helping to reduce the country’s reliance on helmet imports.
A memorandum of understanding has been signed between Atlas Bangladesh Limited (ABL) and Runner Trade Park Limited (RTPL), a listed company in the engineering sector of the capital market. Currently, the annual helmet market in Bangladesh is valued at nearly Tk 500 crore, with almost all helmets being imported, primarily 60 percent from India and the rest from China.
The market is growing at a rate of 20 percent annually, with more than 50 importers bringing in helmets from at least 15 different brands from countries including China, India, Indonesia, and Thailand.
Azibor Rahman attributed the growing demand for helmets to the increasing number of motorcycle users in Bangladesh, driven by socio-economic changes and shifting lifestyles. “The number of motorcycle users is rising daily, which is why the demand for helmets is also increasing,” he said.
Despite recent losses from various projects, Atlas has decided to venture into helmet production. Rahman told The New Nation, “If we lose our capital paying employee salaries, we have to find something productive to do, like helmet production.”
Atlas Bangladesh, once a market leader in collaboration with Japanese brand Honda and Indian brand Hero Honda, began its decline after both foreign motorbike makers ended their partnerships with Atlas in 2010. In FY11, Atlas’s revenue was approximately Tk 5.8 billion, with a profit of Tk 298 million. However, by FY23, the company’s revenue had fallen to Tk 28 million, resulting in a loss of Tk 97 million.
Experts suggest that despite decades of business relations with Hero and Honda, Atlas failed to adapt to technological innovations, which weakened its business model and contributed to its decline.
