 "electric bus")
Electric bus maker PMI Electro Mobility Solutions plans to raise around Rs 250 crore to part fund doubling of production capacity and meet working capital requirements, according to company CEO Aanchal Jain.
The company, which is setting up a new manufacturing unit in Pune, could put in an estimated investment of Rs 150 crore in the expansion.
PMI Electro Mobility Solutions (PMI) currently has an annual manufacturing capacity of 1,500 units, which can be increased to 2,500 to 3,000 units on multiple shifts, at its plant at Dharuhera in Haryana.
"We have another construction going on at Pune, which will add another 3,000 units capacity (annually) to us," Jain told PTI.
She said the Pune plant is a joint venture with BeiqiFoton Motors of China, with which PMI has a technical tie-up.
When asked about the investment in the new plant, she did not share a concrete figure but said it is estimated to be around Rs 150 crore from the PMI side.
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The land belongs to BeiqiFoton and PMI is investing in setting up the manufacturing unit.
On the funding part, Jain said, "We've been trying to raise because at this point where the production capacities we've reached, for the expansions we haven't planned we need money for that."
When asked how much fund PMI is looking to raise, she said, "We are being extremely prudent about how much we are raising. Currently, we are trying to raise around Rs 250 crore at this point. We want to be piecemeal about it, as and when needed, we want to do another round in the future."
The fund will be deployed for capacity expansion and for working capital requirements, Jain added.
She said the doubling of capacity is expected to be completed by "end of next year or early 2025" as PMI gears up to meet its delivery schedules.
"We have our current order book of 2,500 (units) in hand which have to be delivered in the next two to three years," she said, adding, PMI currently has 1,200 electric buses on roads across 27 cities in India.
Jain further said, out of the total pending orders around 2,000 is for the contract the company bagged from the Delhi government, which will mark a large-scale entry for PMI in a metro city.
The company's electric buses currently operate in places, including Leh, Ladakh, Shimla, Rajkot, Surat, Kerala, Himachal Pradesh, Bhubaneswar, and Uttar Pradesh which is its biggest market.
With PMI already having the experience of running electric buses in small cities, Jain said the company is looking forward to the opportunity from the 'PM-eBus Sewa' scheme, under which 10,000 electric buses will be provided to 169 cities under a public-private partnership (PPP) model.
"I think it will be a great boost for the whole industry and for us. Currently the environment is that the pie is getting bigger. Even if you were to maintain your constant market share, it's still a lot for everyone. We are very encouraged and we will try and do whatever we can do for this (scheme)," she said.
Jain said, "As these more contracts come, we will definitely be bidding for them and trying to get them and do things as efficiently as possible. The good thing is these contracts are spread out over a period of time and by that time, we will have additional production capacity as well.
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