Bajaj Auto To Invets INR 400 Cr In Its EV Facility In Aurangabad

The Bajaj Auto, a leading two and three-wheeler manufacturer said that it is planning to invest around INR 400 crore till early next fiscal year in the electric three-wheeler facility in Aurangabad, will be commissioned by the end of this quarter.

Dinesh Thapar, CFO, Bajaj Auto said that the company had introduced electric three-wheeler markets in select markets. The idea is to scale it up to 70-80 cities in the coming few months.

He also said that the Chetak e-scooter business has seen its sales grow from an average of 3,000 units a month to about 11,000 units a month.

“Firstly, the company will invest around INR 400 crore till early next fiscal year, towards the electric three-wheeler facility in Aurangabad, which will get commissioned by end of this quarter. It had introduced electric three-wheeler markets in select markets. The idea is to scale it up to 70-80 cities in the coming few months,” he said.

Secondly, the Chetak e-scooter business has seen its sales grow from an average of 3,000 units a month to about 11,000 units a month. “We are targeting 15,000 units to 20,000 units in the near-term.” He however said the trajectory of the electric two-wheeler industry in the mid-term will be dependent on the future of FAME scheme.

Thapar also said that Triumph Speed 400 and Scrambler 400X last year, has received a strong response. Initially the company started sales with 5,000 to 8,000 units a month, now it is looking at 10,000 units a month over next few months. To meet up demand for domestic and export markets. The company aims to expand Triumph sales from 40 cities in Q3 FY2024 to 80 cities by March 2024.

Meanwhile, the company has recorded a robust performance in Q3 FY2024 with revenue of INR 12,114 crore, up 30 per cent YoY, EBITDA at INR 2,430 crore, up 37 per cent YoY and net profit of INR 2,042 crore, up 37 per cent.

This strong performance was led by significant improvement in domestic business across segments. The company says it achieved market beating performance in motorcycles particularly in the above 125cc segment, sustained momentum on commercial vehicles and the steady ramp up of the electric two- and three-wheeler portfolio.

In Q3 FY2024, the company sold 655,453 two-wheelers up 44 percent YoY, 122,828 three-wheelers, up 38 percent in the domestic market. On the exports front, the two-wheeler sales came at 384,740 units, down 3 percent YoY, and 37,976 three-wheelers, down 12 percent YoY.

“We have come up rather from a buoyant quarter. It is not very often you see double-digit quarters for the two-wheeler segment. Usually, the post-festive demand is slow, but this time sales in December was good and we didn’t see any demand fall-off. Going forward we need to wait and see how much buoyancy comes in Q4. The export market continues to remain challenging, and there is the added dimension around what is happening in Red Sea. There has been some impact on container freight, which has put some pressure on an already challenging market,” he said.

In terms of investments, Thapar said the company will stick to its earlier committed plan of around INR 800 crore investment for this year. The idea is to focus on unlocking capacities in new growth areas.