Faridabad based automotive components vendor The Vikas Group, which made its mark as a supplier of cooling systems to Maruti Suzuki, the country’s largest carmaker, is now aligning with the auto major’s plan to produce electric vehicles.
The Rs 2,000 crore group, which has a partnership with Japanese vehicle air conditioning major Sanden, is allocating over 30% of its Rs 500 crore capex towards development of electric and hybrid vehicle solutions. The Rs 2,000-crore group has earmarked about a third of its planned capital expenditure of Rs 500 crore for a plant that will develop solutions for electric and hybrid vehicles.
Praveen Agarwal, the chairman of the Group told ET that electrification and hybridisation is the future and every leading automotive group needs to evolve quickly or may face the danger of being left behind. “We are not only investing in capacity, but we are focussing on capability building too. We are likely to invest Rs 150 crore in the coming years which will be towards setting up of plant for solutions for electric vehicles,” he said.
Maruti Suzuki is among the automakers that have announced plans to produce affordable electric vehicles in India in line with the government’s push to achieve 100% electric mobility by 2030 and investment by vendor fraternity like Vikas Group will help achieve them this goal. The new facility may come up in Gujarat or some other western or northern state.
Apart from setting up a dedicated electronics team, which will play a role in designing solutions for EV systems, the company is allocating significant resource on R&D or capability building in order to offer cost-effective and efficient solutions to ensure affordability of e-vehicles. The group has 14 plants and has been growing at a CAGR of over 17% over the last three years.
The group’s joint venture with Sanden of Japan manufactures air-conditioners for Maruti. Agarwal said the unit generates Rs 1,000 crore revenue, and that he would like to float an IPO once it doubles.
