Date : February 14, 2005 Published from : Corporate Office

Hinduja Group flagship Ashok Leyland is participating at IDEX 2005, the international defence exhibition being held at Abu Dhabi between February 13th and February 17th 2005. Already present in many markets of the Middle East and Africa with its commercial vehicles, the Company finds considerable scope for the introduction of defence vehicles too. “Our defence vehicles have proved themselves over the varying terrains of Indian sub-continent, from sea level to 15,000 ft altitude, at temperatures varying from –30o to +55o. We are confident our vehicles meet the performance requirements of the prospective markets. The Stallion 4x4 is currently undergoing trials in Kenya and other African countries, with encouraging results”, said Mr R Seshasayee, Managing Director.

A pioneer in the design, development and manufacture of specialized defence vehicles for over three decades, Ashok Leyland has been partnering the Indian army in their vehicle fleet modernization. Over 30,000 special purpose vehicles – Stallion 4x4, Light Recovery Vehicles, Crash Fire Tenders and Truck Fire Fighting are already doing duty, with High Mobility Vehicles 6x6 and Water Bowsers approved for induction.

Ashok Leyland exports to over 40 countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and North America. The SAARC countries - Bangladesh, Nepal, Mauritius and Sri Lanka - GCC/Saudi Arabia, Seychelles and Egypt are major constituents in the Company’s growing export market. Ashok Leyland has a dominant presence in some of them - 70% market share both in Dubai and Mauritius bus markets as also in the 7-16T goods and passenger segment in Sri Lanka. Ashok Leyland is in the process of completing the supply of 3322 trucks to Iraq - the largest ever single order for Indian commercial vehicles. During April’04-Jan’05, exports accounted for 4,970 vehicles, out of the total sale of 41,872 vehicles.

The network of distributors in the focus markets is supported by the Sharjah customer support centre which has become a vital link, slashing reaction time and boosting customer satisfaction in the Company’s global markets.