ETN Roundtable: Priority lending crucial for EV-related investments in India
In the Indian EV ecosystem today, huge investments are required to address technology redundancy and adequate production capacity. Priority lending and variety of instruments for channelling global green funds is the need of the hour, said Nishant Arya, Vice Chairman at JBM Group.
The panelists of the latest ETN Roundtable webinar titled 'Investment for Indian EV Acceleration' discussed on various ways and means to overcome investment-related bottlenecks faced by the domestic EV sector. They also shared their views on how EV manufacturers and suppliers can strategize their investments and scale-up their operations to leverage a head start in the EV race.
"Companies need to have long-term strategic vision, instead of a mere transactional vision, by evaluating their investment and risk-taking abilities. Localization should be the critical parameter for investment, while the focus has to be on positioning oneself for the global markets", said Nishant Arya, when asked on how should EV firms plan for their investments.
In his detailed answer to ETN Editor-in-Chief Ashok Thakur's questions on JBM's investment roadmap, Nishant pointed out that his company is investing heavily in building the capacity to cater to the emerging demand, not in terms of e-bus manufacturing, but also for batteries and charging infrastructure.
"We clearly understand the requirements to address the emerging demand for electric buses in India. At present, we stand with a capacity of 3,000 buses per annum, but we are prepping to increase the capacity multi-fold by setting up largest facilities with digitization and environmental sustainability in mind", he replied.
He further revealed that the JBM Group's planned EV investments are worth over INR 500 crores, of which more than 60 percent are already invested and that the rest of the amount will be realized before the end of this year. "Investments on developing in-house R&D with registered IPs are yet another aspect of our strategy", he added.
Speaking on the vision 2030 for electrification in India, Nishant Arya said that the aspired 30 percent threshold is quite achievable, with higher contribution from E2Ws, E3Ws, and electric buses for public transportation. He hoped that India emerges as not just as a manufacturing hub, but also a design centre for EVs at the global level.
Lastly, he stressed on the integration of the national EV and renewable energy roadmaps, as the ultimate aims should focus on carbon-neutrality. "Our country has to focus on the required clean energy and infrastructural developments to achieve higher levels of sustainability", he commented.
