Ashok Leyland Gets Rs 183 Crore Diesel Bus Order From Tamil Nadu

Ashok Leyland Ltd. has won an order from the Tamil Nadu government to supply hundreds of diesel buses by the end of the year.

The order, won by way of a normal tender process, is for the supply of 543 diesel chassis and fully built buses to Tamil Nadu Transport Corporation between June and December 2025, according to an exchange filing on Tuesday. The deal is valued at Rs 183.8 crore and doesn’t qualify as a related-party transaction.

The Tamil Nadu order comes as a shot in the arm for Ashok Leyland that had a relatively flat fiscal 2025, volume-wise. The company sold 1,79,842 commercial vehicles locally during the financial year, as against 1,82,700 in fiscal 2024—a decline of 2% year-on-year.

Still, the company delivered record profits last year.

Net profit increased by more than a fourth to an all-time high of Rs 3,303 crore, on the back of revenue that increased 1% to Rs 38,753 crore. The operational profitability—measured as earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation—rose 7% year-on-year to a record Rs 4,931 crore. That led to a margin expansion of 70 basis points to 12.7%.

That helped the company turn net debt-free. As on March 31, Ashok Leyland had net cash of Rs 4,242 crore, as against a net debt of Rs 89 crore.

“This gives us more fuel to further augment our strengths in products and technology, and to offer best-in-class customer experience,” Shenu Agarwal, managing director and chief executive at Ashok Leyland, had said after the fourth-quarter earnings on May 23. “We are now more confident than ever in our ability to gain market share and further improve our price realisation.”

On Tuesday, Ashok Leyland shares fell 0.11% to Rs 236.05 apiece on the BSE, even as the benchmark Sensex ended the day 0.78% lower at 80,737.51 points.