Yamaha to boost India outlets as incomes rev up

NEW DELHI - Yamaha Motor Co, the world's second-biggest motorcycle maker, plans to double the number of its sales outlets in India in the next five years to tap demand in villages as economic growth boosts incomes.

India Yamaha Motor Pvt may increase showrooms to 2,000, mostly in small towns and rural hubs, said Koji Arai, director and chief sales officer.

The country, home to Asia's third-biggest economy, is spending more to build roads connecting villages and improve electricity, phone and health care. The infrastructure investments and rising prices for farm produce are boosting rural incomes. Yamaha is following bigger rival Hero Honda Motors Ltd to expand in the countryside, where 70 percent of India's more than 1.1 billion people live.