On Tuesday, the Hinduja Group conducted ‘bhoomi pujan’ of the 70 acres of land which was earlier part of Scooter India Limited that was spread over 140 acres area.After the ceremony
TOI
spoke to Dheeraj Hinduja the executive chairman and Shenu Agarwal, the MD and CEO of Ashok Leyland, about the ambitious project.
“Our ambition is to make the most modern state of the art facility here in Lucknow, which won’t just be a modern and green factory in India, but will be the benchmark in the global plants as well. We would be engaging in local skill development including a good proportion of the women workforce, said the 52-year-old British-Indian businessman Dheeraj who has been heading Ashok Leyland since 2010.
The automobile company which has expertise in heavy duty vehicles will initially invest about Rs 500 crore for the first phase, later when demand for EV grows Rs 1000 Cr more will be pumped in.
The plant will initially have the capacity to produce 2500 vehicles per year. Ashok Leyland plans to expand this capacity to 5,000 vehicles annually over the next decade, anticipating the growing demand for electric and other types of vehicles in the coming years.
“With this new plant, we are preparing ourselves for the future and taking one step further to achieve our Net Zero emissions goals,” said Dheeraj, who was born in Iran and spent most of his life in Britain.
The company expects to generate 500 direct and indirect jobs once EV factory is operational.
“This facility will not only address the rising demand for electric vehicles in India, but also play a vital role in the holistic development of the region. With the EV factory we will have a lot of ancillary support. We expect a lot of suppliers to come in this region,” said Shenu Agarwal, who joined the Rs 22,000 crore Chennai headquarters Hinduja flagship Ashok Leyland as the MD and CEO back in 2022.
He said, “The factory will kick start production of buses and trucks by September 2025. Our focus on electric trucks and buses resonates with the evolving landscape of sustainable transportation and pushes us one step further to build a green mobility future.”
Speaking on the affordability of the EV vehicles, Dheeraj Hinduja said, “Main cost in an EV is battery itself, and that is something not predominantly in our hands. But over the years the cost of batteries has decreased and the subsidy which the government will provide us will help us to maintain the cost of the vehicles as low as possible. We are trying to make EV affordable.”