Chinese e-vehicles giant BYD might have won major orders in India but has failed to bag any government subsidy in India which according to its Indian counterpart Goldstone Infratech is an unfair competition.
A Goldstone Infratech spokesperson told ET, the company is hopeful of localising half the components for electric buses being built for India, in the next two years.
Goldstone-BYD buses comply with all localisation norms under Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid & Electric Vehicles (FAME) policy and Make in India. The global player expects to ramp up localisation component above 50 percent in the next two years. A government official informed the English daily that Ashok Leyland has localisation of 37 percent components, while Tata Motors is at 35 percent.
Tata Motors and Goldstone-BYD bagged nine of 10 contracts, partfunded by the Centre, leaving competitors such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Eicher Motors and JBM Solaris empty-handed. Winning bids placed by the duo were nearly 30% lower than market price. Tata Motors bid as low as Rs 77 lakh per e-bus in some tenders. However, some of the tenders bid on supply-operate basis have been put on hold by the government as it is figuring out ways to evaluate the exact cost of e-buses.
BYD’s entry into India by bagging large tenders for electric buses has started worrying the domestic auto industry. Indian companies questioned the government’s decision to allow a company of the size of BYD to participate in the recent tenders and also said the move is a spoiler to Make in India. Indian companies are of the opinion that BYD has access to low-cost funds and subsidies from China that pose threat in terms of competition and scaling up manufacturing.
