Ola Electric gets ARAI nod to qualify for eligibility certification under Auto PLI Scheme

IPO-bound Ola Electric, which is looking to raise Rs 5,500 crore through its initial public offer, has got the Ministry of Heavy Industries testing agency's (ARAI's) nod for meeting the 50 percent domestic value addition norms to qualify under the non-automotive investor (OEM) category of the government's Rs 25,938 auto PLI scheme.

A senior officer from ARAI looking into the PLI scheme certification confirmed to Autocar Professional that Ola Electric has met the norms as prescribed by the PLI scheme and the process of completing the eligibility certificate took place this week.

The official said that while the process of awarding the certification has a certification period of three months, due to the multiple challenges associated with testing other OEMs, it has taken slightly longer.

Some of the other auto two-wheeler makers  who have qualified for the auto PLI scheme and are yet to receive eligibility certificates include Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, and TVS Motors, besides others, who have been given approvals to produce two-wheelers, three-wheelers, and passenger cars. 

Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have already received their eligibility certifications for a wide range of ATT products under the government's auto PLI scheme.

The Auto PLI scheme looks to give incentives of up to 18 percent on the sales of advanced automobile products sold for 5 years from 2022 onwards, with qualifying OEMs required to invest close to Rs 1000 crore and OEMs having a group revenue, of Rs 10,000 crore.

The scheme has a budgetary outlay of Rs 25,938 crore for incentives, with the total incentive per entire group company capped at Rs 6,485 crore.

The PLI scheme, which has qualified 95 approved firms with a cumulative investment of Rs 74,850 crore over five years against the target of Rs 42,500 crore, offers financial incentives to boost domestic manufacturing of Advanced Automotive Technology (AAT) products to reduce imports, facilitate deep localisation for AAT products and enable the creation of domestic as well as global supply chain.

Besides this, the other objectives of the scheme include overcoming cost disabilities and facilitating the automobile industry to move up the value chain into higher value-added products.

Ola Electric has also been selected to manufacture batteries and cells under the government's ACC PLI scheme, with a maximum capacity of 20 GWh awarded to the company.