Reva-I not in Guj now: M&M

Leading automotive and farm equipment player Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) said it has no plans to bring the Reva-I, its first electric car from the Mahindra-Reva stable, to Gujarat anytime in the near future, as the state government did not have any special incentives for electric vehicles.

"We have already expanded the footprint of the Reva-I to six cities across the country from just two when we started. It is important to have incentives from respective state governments to aid sales of electric vehicles. Otherwise it is not viable. Currently, we have no plans of selling the car in Gujarat," said Pawan Goenka, president, automotive and farm equipment sectors, M&M.

He added that while the recent Ministry of New and Renewable Energy(MNRE) subsidy scheme is most welcome, incentives at a state government level are also crucial to make electric vehicles viable.

The Reva-I is now priced around Rs 2.7-2.8 lakhs in cities like Delhi and Bangalore, where it is backed by incentive schemes. M&M is in talks with different state governments for incentive schemes for e-vehicles.

In the farm equipment sector however, Gujarat has clocked a growth rate this fiscal that is double that of the national average.

"The tractors industry in Gujarat has grown by around 40 per cent this fiscal, while the overall industry growth has been close to 20 per cent. M&M has managed to register a 77 per cent growth in sales to 7,000 units in the first eight months of the financial year," Goenka said.

The state accounts for nearly eight per cent of the company's overall tractor sales. M&M has managed register the whopping growth in Gujarat mainly on the back of Yuvraj sales. Yuvraj, the mini-tractor from M&M's stable is currently available only in Gujarat and Rajasthan. It is manufactured by P M Diesel at Rajkot for M&M.

Mahindra is in the process trebling its production capacity from 500 units per month now to 1500 units per month within next year. Goenka added that this would also treble the number of jobs at the plant, which now employs around 200 people, besides boosting the ancillary industry.