According to a top official, commercial vehicle maker Ashok Leyland Limited (ALL) is looking for investment in its electric vehicle business.
CFO Gopal Mahadevan said it recently shifted its electric vehicle business to subsidiary Switch Mobility to take advantage of better growth opportunities.
“We need investment for product development and technology for e-LCVs and e-buses. The Switch will have an electric version of Dost and Bada Dost. “The EV initiative is going to be extremely important for us. We have seen a lot of investor interest, but we are waiting for the right financial and strategic partners.”
ALL is also planning to launch two trucks in the Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) version in the fourth quarter of this fiscal.
“We are planning to launch two ICV (Intermediate Commercial Vehicle) trucks in the CNG segment in the fourth quarter of the current financial year. After that we will continue to launch a new product every quarter and introduce the CNG variant in Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) at a later stage,” said Vipin Sondhi, MD & CEO.
“The government is promoting CNG and is all set to take it forward to ensure that a major chunk of the fleet is able to run on CNG in the years to come. Introducing CNG products in ICV and LCV will enable us to capture significant market share going forward.
When asked about the challenges being faced by the company, Mr. Sondhi said that though the demand was expected to increase further due to the government’s emphasis on infrastructure, there was a tightening in commodity prices, shortage of semiconductors and containers. There were challenges in the form of shortages. export.
However, to offset these, there are positives like scrappage policy and PLI scheme which augurs well for the CV industry, he said.
On the international front, Mr. Sondhi said that the three-pronged approach is to move forward by expanding into African markets by recruiting new partners, and by delving deeper into all SAARC and GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries and CIS and South East Asian countries. strategy will follow.
Shri Gopal Mahadevan said that he has sequentially reduced the net debt by more than ₹1,000 crore. Currently, it was ₹3,112 crore.
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