Ashok Leyland acquires OHM to house E-MaaS business, will invest Rs 300 cr

Electric mobility as a service 'important part' of commercial electric vehicle business, says conglomerate

Ashok Leyland, the Indian flagship of the Hinduja Group, said on Monday its board has approved the complete acquisition of Ohm Global Mobility Private (OHM) from OHM International Mobility for a nominal consideration of Rs 100,000.

Ashok Leyland said it will invest up to Rs 300 crore as equity in OHM for operationalising the company. E-MaaS (electric mobility as a service) contracts will be transferred to OHM subject after approvals.

As OHM is yet to become operational, the consideration was nominal. OHM will be a 100 per cent subsidiary and any guarantees or comfort letters to be furnished to secure future orders will be provided by Ashok Leyland.

“E-Maas is gaining significance in India, and we feel that this is the right time for us to operationalize OHM India. E-Maas will be a strategy adopted by both the Public Sector and Private Sector to enhance EV (electric vehicle) penetration," said Dheeraj G Hinduja, executive chairman of Ashok Leyland.

"The government is looking to strengthen the payment mechanism under E-Maas and there are several initiatives that the government is pursuing to enhance EV adoption. Given this backdrop, OHM will acquire significant importance and we are very positive on its prospects," he said.

“E-MaaS has become an integral and important part of the Indian commercial EV landscape. Today, a significant part of the EV Bus market – especially state transport undertaking orders – are routed under the E-MaaS mechanism and we needed to have a separate company for that. Switch India will be supplying EV Buses and light commercial vehicles to OHM for it to deploy under the E-Maas contracts," said Shenu Agarwal, managing director and chief executive officer of Ashok Leyland.