Ashok Leyland to invest Rs 300 crore in EV arm OHM, transfer existing e-MaaS contracts

Ashok Leyland, the Indian flagship of the Hinduja Group, today announced that its Board has approved the acquisition of 100% of Ohm Global Mobility Private Ltd (OHM) from OHM International Mobility Ltd for a nominal consideration of Rs 1 lakh.  As the company is yet to become operational the consideration was nominal.

With this move, OHM becomes a 100% subsidiary of the company.  Ashok Leyland has also announced that it will be investing up to Rs 300 crore as equity into OHM to operationalise the company. In addition, existing E-MaaS contracts will be transferred to OHM subject to necessary approvals.

Any guarantees or comfort letters to be furnished to secure future orders will be provided by Ashok Leyland, subject to necessary approvals.

Dheeraj G. Hinduja, Executive Chairman of the company mentioned: “E-Maas is gaining significance in India, and we feel that this is the right time for us to operationalise OHM India. E-Maas will be a strategy adopted by both the Public Sector and Private Sector to enhance EV penetration. 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.”

Shenu Agarwal, Managing Director and CEO, Ashok Leyland stated: “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 the EV Buses and Light Commercial Vehicles to OHM for it to deploy under the E-Maas contracts. OHM will become an important company in the EV portfolio of Ashok Leyland.”