CHENNAI: In light of the government’s strong push for electric vehicles, Mahindra & Mahindra said on Monday it will invest Rs 900 crore over next four years as it seeks to bring out efficient electric vehicles. “We have already invested Rs 600 crore in EVs over the past five-six years and have decided to invest Rs 400 crore in Karnataka and Rs 500 crore in Maharashtra over the next four-five years.
This will be used for capacity, technology and products,” said Pawan Goenka, managing director, M&M. He also said the company will be doing all parts of the EV play, except batteries, which require greater volumes for local manufacturing and so they will have to be imported. Goenka said this investment is likely to ramp up its first installed capacity to 5,000 units a month. However, he noted that the success of this plan will depend on certain assumptions like the continuation of subsidies. “We are not waiting for any policy to move forward.
To be a pioneer, you have to create the road and we have to move forward. But, there is a need for the prevailing subsidies on EVs to continue for longer to ensure growth of this industry,” he said. The homegrown auto major has a capacity of 400 units a month, which, he said, would go up to 1,500, including three-wheelers by this September-end and the company should be capable of rolling out 4,000 units by December 2019.