JSW Group has ambitions to get into trucks, buses space: Parth Jindal

JSW Group has ambitions to venture into trucks and buses as the company sees a huge opportunity in the domestic automotive space, says Parth Jindal, Director, JSW MG Motor India. 

“There is a huge opportunity in the Indian automotive space. And despite whatever the competition is doing, not enough is being done on New Energy vehicles. So whether it's on buses, whether it’s on trucks, whether it's on cars, JSW has its own ambitions as well to get into that space,” says Jindal.

The company aims to become the number one player in the new energy vehicle space. In terms of new energy vehicles, the company plans to include electric vehicles and plug-in hybrids in its portfolio. 

According to Jindal, with the two to four launches JSW MG Motor India is planning in a year, 50% will be EVs and 50% will be plug-in hybrids. “The plug-in hybrid might also have an ICE version, and may also have a pure EV version, but at least half our new launches will be available in plug-in hybrids,” says Jindal. 

The company plans to bring its first plug-in hybrid by 2026. 

“We have made a representation to the government on plug-in hybrids that on plug-in hybrids, the tax rate should be brought down from a current 43% to a lower level, not as low as 5% but somewhere between five and 43 to incentivize plug-in hybrids so that it gets accepted in the country. Because it is going to take some time for charging infra to truly develop and become available everywhere in this country. So plug-in hybrids is a very good transition technology,” says Jindal.

“We are requesting the government, to look at this as a transition technology, and for a predefined period of time, maybe three years to five years, look at lowering the tax rate on plug-in hybrids only, so that it becomes affordable for the customer, and then removed, and then go back to 43 to 45% after five years, because by then, the charging infra, with the work that the entire auto sector is doing, will come up and develop,” he adds.

Jindal also discloses that the company is looking at external partners in terms of technology. Notably, the company has made investments in Aurangabad and Odisha. “For now, we have commenced the work in Aurangabad. So it's not that we are moving anything from Odisha. We're keeping Odisha open. We are continuing with some of the investment in Odisha now, and we'll make subsequent investments in time. We need to make investments in many states. So we as a group, are always looking at new opportunities in new states,” says Jindal.