Goldstone-BYD eyes expansion in India, to add 10k jobs

Electric bus manufacturer Goldstone Infratech today said it plans to create up to 10,000 jobs in India in the next five years and will soon set up a joint venture firm to cater to R&D and after sales service facilities.

The company manufactures electric buses through a technical collaboration with China's BYD.

In an interview to PTI at BYD's global headquarters here, Goldstone Infratech's President-Strategy Naga Satyam said it plans to make India a major hub for exports to neighbouring countries like Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh in the near future.

He said GIL is also eyeing green funding in India as it seeks to expand operations in the country, where it sees huge potential.

Hyderabad-based Goldstone Infratech recently bagged orders to supply 100 electric busses to Telangana, 150 to Bengaluru and 40 to Mumbai.

GIL has an assembly plants near Hyderabad with an annual capacity of 600 units and another upcoming plant at Bidur in Karnataka with a capacity of 1,500 units annually in the first phase, giving it a total capacity of 2,100 units per year.

"We definitely see creation of 8,000 to 10,000 new jobs in India in the next five years through our operations, Satyam told PTI.

"We want to export electric buses from these plants to the neighbouring SAARC countries like Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. We will be the first company to export electric buses from India very soon," Satyam added.

He also said that GIL plans to invest Rs 600 crore in the Karnataka plant, which is expected to be functional by October this year.

"We are going to set up a joint venture company very soon, probably in the next 2-3 months, that will take care of after sales service, quality, R & D and training. Since both Goldstone Infratech and BYD are listed entities, we need to have approvals from our Boards and externally as well, and those are under process now," Satyam said.

Currently, Goldstone-BYD offers two range of buses -- eBuzz K7 (9 metre) and eBuzz K9 (12 metre) in India. These models cover up to 250 km at a speed of 70 kmph on a single complete charge that takes about 4 hours.