Tata Motors cheers revamped e-bus payment mechanism, eyes aggressive bidding

Tata Motors, India's largest automaker, hailed the government's revamped payment security mechanism (PSM) for electric buses (e-buses) as a "very good development" that unlocks its green mobility ambitions.

"This makes the business case for e-buses bankable," said P. B. Balaji, Group CFO of Tata Motors, on Friday, signalling the company's intent to aggressively bid for tenders by state transport units for the deployment of e-buses  "We are committed to investing big in green transportation," he emphasised.

Balaji's comments come a day after Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman touched upon the PSM in her budget speech, aiming to accelerate e-bus adoption in public transport networks. The revised mechanism addresses concerns raised by manufacturers like Tata Motors, which had previously boycotted tenders due to payment security risks.

"There are some minor loose ends," Balaji acknowledged, expressing confidence they will be ironed out soon.

Autocar Professional  on January 23 had reported about the Indian government's optimism about introducing 38,000 electric buses by 2027 on the back of the US-India payment security mechanism.

This is expected to provide the EV bus OEMs a buffer to deploy the buses to various state transport undertakings and will enable them to pay up in case of default from several loss-making state transport undertakings.