Ashok Leyland To Invest Rs 200 Crore In Greenfield Bus Plant In Uttar Pradesh
The plant will have an annual capacity to produce 2,500 buses, which may be expanded to 5,000 depending on the demand.
Ashok Leyland Ltd. will invest Rs 200 crore to set up a greenfield plant for electric buses in Uttar Pradesh.
"Ashok Leyland’s mission to achieve Net Zero by year 2048 is one of the triggers to set up this plant in Uttar Pradesh," Shenu Agarwal, managing director and chief executive officer of Ashok Leyland, said in a statement on Friday.
Depending on the market adoption and demand for alternative fuel vehicles in the state, the company intends to invest up to Rs 1,000 crore in the new facility over the next few years, he said.
The plant will have an annual capacity of 2,500 buses, which may be expanded to 5,000 depending on demand.
The commercial vehicle manufacturer signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the government of Uttar Pradesh on Friday.
"The Government of Uttar Pradesh is committed to facilitate the sale of electric buses annually for its own fleet and among other stakeholders for the next five years through Switch Mobility, a subsidiary of Ashok Leyland," said State Minister for Industrial Development, Export Promotion, NRI, and Investment Promotion Nand Gopal Gupta.
The plant will be primarily used for the production of electric buses, with the flexibility to assemble other vehicles powered by currently available or emerging alternative fuels, the company said in the press release.
The company may use a combination of internal accruals or borrowings to establish the plant.
Ashok Leyland intends to add this capacity within 18 months from the date of the acquisition of land for the plant.
The company operates in the electric bus market through its subsidiary, Switch Mobility Ltd., and plans to roll out an entire product range with alternate fuel options over the next three to five years.
