Bajaj Auto To Set Up Rs 300-Crore EV Manufacturing Facility, Shares Gain Over 3%

Bajaj Auto announced on Wednesday, December 29, that it will invest Rs 300 crore to set up an electric vehicle manufacturing facility at Akurdi in Pune. Shares of the leading vehicle manufacturer gained around three per cent after the announcement during the trading session, later settling among the top gainers on the NSE.

The facility, for which the work has already started, will have the capacity to produce 5,00,000 electric vehicles (EVs) per annum and cater to both domestic and exports markets, according to a regulatory filing by the company to the stock exchanges today. The first vehicle from the new unit is expected to be rolled out by June 2022.

On Wednesday, shares of Bajaj Auto opened on the BSE at Rs 3,195, swinging to an intra day high of Rs 3,270 and an intra day low of Rs 3,152.55, throughout the trading session.

"In 2001, Bajaj 2.0 took off on the roaring Pulsar, in 2021, Bajaj 3.0 arrived on the charming Chetak. Going forward, for the Bajaj portfolio, except for implementing one state-of-the-art ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) platform that is currently under development, all our R&D drive train resources are now laser focused on creating EV solutions for the future.

"This alignment reflects our belief that light electric vehicles for sustainable urban mobility is an idea whose time may finally have come," said Rajiv Bajaj, Managing Director, Bajaj Auto.

The investments made by Bajaj Auto will be supplemented by a number of vendors, who will invest a further Rs 250 crore, the company said. The new unit will have robotic and automated manufacturing systems for logistics and material handling, fabrication and painting, assembly, and quality assurance. The unit at Akurdi is co-located with Bajaj Auto's R&D centre to foster greater collaboration.

On Wednesday, shares of Bajaj Auto settled 2.70 per cent higher at Rs 3,262.40 apiece on the BSE.