Tube Investments of India Ltd. (TII) would be investing about ₹300-400 crore during this fiscal in TI Clean Mobility Pvt. Ltd. (TICMPL) to fuel its EV growth plans.
“About ₹400 crore will be spent by TICMPL for product development or manufacturing EVs,” said TII managing director Mukesh Ahuja during an analysts call.
TII’s wholly-owned subsidiary announced its foray into the EV space to manufacture and market electric three-wheelers, tractors and heavy commercial vehicles.
The electric three-wheeler Montra was launched during December 2022. It is currently being sold in the southern states of Karnataka, Kerala and Andhra Pradesh. There is also a plan underway to ramp up production.
As far as the tractor vertical is concerned, TICMPL is in the process of developing the product. The first lot of tooled-up samples will be complete in the June-July period, and this would be followed by trials, rectification, homologation and go-to-market, he said.
Meanwhile, trucks are being manufactured at Manesar. “We have lined up customers and we are in the process of selling quantum. We are carefully selecting the customers and are doing some trials, and then getting into sales,” he said.
Asserting that there was a delay in truck manufacturing due to completion of AIS-156 Part 2 homologation, he said: “We are waiting for official certificate, although we were ready for manufacturing.”
On the production capacity, TICMPL managing director K.K. Paul said that the company has a capacity to manufacture annually 90,000 units of electric three wheelers, followed by 25,000 units of tractors and 2,500-3,000 units of heavy-duty trucks.
TII, meanwhile, has set aside a capex of another ₹800 crore for its existing engineering business and for new initiatives, said chief finance officer AN Meyyappan.
Out of the total standalone capex of ₹800 crore, about ₹285 crore is for contract development and manufacturing, ₹233 crore for Lotus Surgicals Pvt. Ltd. and the balance is for engineering and metal form businesses.
