Mahesh Babu
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Switch Mobility, the electric vehicle (EV) arm of the Hinduja Group, posted a fourfold increase in market share for electric buses during FY23, said CEO Mahesh Babu.
“We ended March 2023 with a market share of 20% up from 5% in the year-earlier period and thus became the third largest electric bus manufacturer in India,” he told The Hindu.
In FY23, Switch sold 401 e-buses against 40 units in the previous year. Right now, it has an orderbook for 1,500 e-buses, that includes recent tender for supply of 950 e-buses.
Explaining further, he said last year 300 e-buses were delivered to Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation, 60 to JSW Steel at Vijayanagar, Karnataka, and 20 to Chalo, a leading transport technology firm. Besides, in the first quarter of FY24, 40 units had been delivered and 35 more double decker e-buses are to be delivered to BEST, Mumbai, by September.
Mr. Babu said that Switch had started trial production of electric light commercial vehicles (LCVs) Dost and Bada Dost at the Hosur plant and commercial production would begin by the last quarter of 2023. Production of electric buses are on in full swing at Ennore plant for more than a year.
On the market share, he said it kept varying based on the tenders. The first two places in the e-bus category in the domestic market is currently occupied by Chinese firms PMI Electro Mobility and Olectra and the gap was “very narrow,” he said.
On infusion of funds, Ashok Leyland executive chairman Dheeraj Hinduja said that they were scouting for strategtic investors, who had a long-term vision for the company.
“Second thing is on the valuation, we want to make sure that we get the right valuation and we get the right partner. The investment decision would be taken within the next few weeks or months,” he added.
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