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How Tata Motors’ Lucknow Plant Evolved from the 407 Era to a Million-Vehicle Milestone

Shahkar Abidi — Thu, 16 Apr 2026 14:16:16

On April 25, 2026, the industrial landscape of Uttar Pradesh marked an important milestone as Tata Motors celebrated the rollout of its 10th lakh commercial vehicle from its Lucknow facility. This achievement is the culmination of a three-and-a-half-decade journey that began in the mid-1980s. At that time, the state government provided 6,000 acres on Deva Road, hoping a modern private-sector entrant could repair an industrial reputation then marred by labour unrest at state-owned firms. The plant’s first truck, a variant of the LP-1210, eventually debuted in late 1992, following a 1986 groundbreaking ceremony.

Strategic Entry
The decision to establish this greenfield site was deeply tied to the 1986 launch of the Tata 407. As a purely homegrown light commercial vehicle, the 407 did more than just capture the domestic market from international rivals; it effectively rescued the company from a financial crisis. The resulting surge in demand necessitated a specialised production hub beyond the traditional centres in Jamshedpur and Pune, positioning Lucknow as a critical pillar in Tata’s national strategy. Today, that strategy has evolved from simple assembly to high-tech customisation through an on-site Engineering Research Centre that validates new designs for specific customer needs.

Flexibility is Key
The facility's modern identity is defined by what leadership calls "multi-fuel" agility. Vishal Badshah, Vice President and Head of Operations at Tata Motors, notes that the plant is capable of producing diesel, CNG, electric, and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles on the same assembly lines. Badshah describes this integrated approach as one of the industry's most innovative practices, bolstered by a Digital Command Control Centre that monitors critical manufacturing processes in real time. This technological leap allows the plant to handle everything from 4-tonne light trucks to massive 55-tonne heavy-duty haulers without traditional production bottlenecks.

Expanding the Product Portfolio
A significant portion of the plant’s legacy involves its role in the bus segment, which currently accounts for roughly 25% of total production. This capability was sharpened by a 2006 partnership with the Brazilian firm Marcopolo S.A., which focused on "fully built" buses—vehicles delivered with the body and interior complete, rather than just the frame. Although Marcopolo exited the venture after 15 years to refresh its global strategy, Tata Motors successfully integrated the expertise, continuing to manufacture the Starbus and Ultra brands independently.

Way Ahead
Looking ahead, the Lucknow facility is positioned for significant growth without the immediate requirement for physical expansion. During the last fiscal year, the plant utilised approximately 60% of its one-lakh-unit annual capacity, producing 56,000 vehicles. This spare capacity provides a strategic cushion as the market shifts towards greener technologies like hydrogen and electric power.

UCAL: How a 70-Year-Old Auto Parts Group is Re-Engineering for the EV Era

Autocar Professional Bureau — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:07:49

In June 2007, Adithya Srivatsa Jayakar was a high school graduate preparing for a sociology degree at Butler University, but his real education began on the factory floors of Illinois.

He joined Amtec Precision Products, a U.S. subsidiary of the Chennai-based UCAL Ltd., as a trainee, just two years after the Indian parent company acquired the firm to gain a foothold in the American automotive and defense markets. Nearly two decades later, after an Executive MBA from Notre Dame and a rotation through every major corporate function, Jayakar was appointed Deputy Managing Director in November 2024 to steer the legacy manufacturer through evolving technologies and market dynamics.

Today, UCAL, a company built on the precision of carburetors and mechanical fuel pumps, is aggressively pivoting toward a future defined by mechatronics and electric vehicles (EVs).

Under Jayakar’s leadership, the firm is attempting to balance the books by milking the high-margin aftermarket, while investing significantly in electronics that will keep it relevant in a decarbonized world.

Jayakar is the son of Jayakar Krishnamurthy, CMD of UCAL Ltd. His grandfather, Dr. V. Krishnamurthy, was the founding Chairman of Maruti Suzuki and also the Chairman of BHEL and SAIL.

The Survival Strategy: Aftermarkets and Exports
The shift is not just a strategic choice; it is a necessity for business resilience as legacy products phase out. UCAL’s response has been to aggressively target the aftermarket segment, which Jayakar describes as "a significant market." Unlike selling directly to car manufacturers (Original Equipment Manufacturers or OEMs), the aftermarket allows for higher margins and direct consumer reach. To achieve this, UCAL rapidly expanded its distribution channels and increased its market reach to new geographies.

Simultaneously, UCAL is leveraging its legacy expertise to fuel a surge in export earnings from regions like Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. In the more advanced North American market, it is pitching high-tech indigenous innovations like specialized fuel rails for premium cars and vacuum pumps.

“We want to play as a dominant player in newer technologies,” Jayakar says, emphasizing that the company is no longer just a component maker but an engineering-led firm.

Engineering the Pivot: From Mechanical to Mechatronics

The broader automotive component industry is currently caught in a transition between two eras. Companies like UCAL, and its competitors Uno Minda and Endurance Technologies, must master mechatronics, the fusion of mechanical systems with electronics. For UCAL, this means repurposing decades of air and fuel management knowledge into EV architectures.

UCAL has established a dedicated R&D center for electronics to develop sensors and embedded systems for green mobility. This technical transformation is backed by a heavy investment cycle; between FY21 and FY25, UCAL’s capital expenditure (capex) totaled approximately Rs 107.48 crore, peaking at Rs 45.79 crore in FY24 as new production lines were established. At its Maraimalai Nagar plant, the company has commissioned lines for high-potential components like Intake Throttle Valves, while a new facility at Mahindra World City is dedicated solely to export-bound water outlets.

Currently, core products like throttle bodies and oil pumps still account for over 50% of revenue, but the move into premium segments is gaining ground. Sales of throttle bodies alone grew by over 20% year-on-year during FY25, helping to buffer the declining demand for older technologies.

The Road Ahead: A Decarbonized Identity

As the Indian government pushes for aggressive sustainable mobility goals, UCAL is attempting to integrate sustainability into its operational identity. The company now draws more than 70% of its power from renewable sources like wind and solar and is exploring "net zero" opportunities in hydrogen and micro-mobility.

For Adithya Jayakar, the goal is to complete the transformation he began as a trainee in Illinois: moving UCAL from a local carburetor manufacturer to a global, diversified engineering powerhouse capable of surviving the electric revolution. While the transition is fraught with challenges like material scarcity and infrastructure gaps, UCAL’s proactive shift suggests a firm determined not to be left behind in the combustion era.

UCAL: How a 70-Year-Old Auto Parts Group is Re-Engineering for the EV Era

Autocar Professional Bureau — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:07:49

In June 2007, Adithya Srivatsa Jayakar was a high school graduate preparing for a sociology degree at Butler University, but his real education began on the factory floors of Illinois.

Today, UCAL, a company built on the precision of carburetors and mechanical fuel pumps, is aggressively pivoting toward a future defined by mechatronics and electric vehicles (EVs).

Jayakar is the son of Jayakar Krishnamurthy, CMD of UCAL Ltd. His grandfather, Dr. V. Krishnamurthy, was the founding Chairman of Maruti Suzuki and also the Chairman of BHEL and SAIL.

“We want to play as a dominant player in newer technologies,” Jayakar says, emphasizing that the company is no longer just a component maker but an engineering-led firm.

Engineering the Pivot: From Mechanical to Mechatronics

The Road Ahead: A Decarbonized Identity

UCAL: How a 70-Year-Old Auto Parts Group is Re-Engineering for the EV Era

Autocar Professional Bureau — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 13:07:49

In June 2007, Adithya Srivatsa Jayakar was a high school graduate preparing for a sociology degree at Butler University, but his real education began on the factory floors of Illinois.

Today, UCAL, a company built on the precision of carburetors and mechanical fuel pumps, is aggressively pivoting toward a future defined by mechatronics and electric vehicles (EVs).

Jayakar is the son of Jayakar Krishnamurthy, CMD of UCAL Ltd. His grandfather, Dr. V. Krishnamurthy, was the founding Chairman of Maruti Suzuki and also the Chairman of BHEL and SAIL.

“We want to play as a dominant player in newer technologies,” Jayakar says, emphasizing that the company is no longer just a component maker but an engineering-led firm.

Engineering the Pivot: From Mechanical to Mechatronics

The Road Ahead: A Decarbonized Identity

Middle East Conflict Forces India to Rethink Energy Dependence

Arunima Pal — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 14:30:25

As escalating conflict in the Middle East keeps global energy markets on edge, India will have to attempt a radical shift toward bio-energy sovereignty. Faced with an 85% reliance on imported energy and a volatile geopolitical landscape, the world’s most populous nation would have to work to establish a "new normal" that prioritizes domestic self-reliance over fragile global supply chains, remarked industry captains.

"Most of the countries that actually suffered from this (energy sourcing), they will work out a new normal for energy," said Atul Mulay, President of Corporate Strategy at Praj Industries, a leading bio-energy technology provider.

Industry experts pointed out that the anticipated shift should be seen in the context of logistical bottlenecks, including the near blockage of the Strait of Hormuz, which have made energy security synonymous with national sovereignty. New Delhi has walked a diplomatic tightrope, navigating U.S. pressure on Russian crude sourcing while monitoring shifting alliances in the Middle East.

The impact has been tremendous. Geopolitical tensions since the beginning of the Iran-US-Israel war on February 28 have not only raised crude prices but also created severe shortages of gas and commodities including those used in the automotive ecosystem. India will also have to consider a future where its neighbourhood is likely to change in the coming years with some countries forming their own 'NATO-like' regional forces, which may further complicate matters.

Automotive Friction

India's new normal will depend heavily on reducing the country's fuel sourcing needs. According to experts, this could be largely achieved through greater adoption of biofuels, which are abundant considering India remains largely an agrarian economy. For instance, the nation's ethanol blending program has been one of its success stories in the green transition with the government advancing its E20 (20% ethanol blending in petrol) targets by five years, moving the deadline from 2030 to 2025.

This trajectory has established India as the third-largest ethanol producer in the world. India’s adaptability has resulted in the production of 1700 crore liters of ethanol, significantly exceeding the 1000 crore liters required for the 2025 target, leading the government to permit exports.

As per the government data, ethanol blending has already saved an estimated 1.55 lakh crore rupees and substituted roughly 2.66 lakh metric tons of crude oil. The program has led to a reduction of 800 lakh metric tons of CO2 emissions and approximately Rs 1.36 lakh crore has been paid back to farmers for ethanol feedstocks.. There were even plans to take the blending levels to E27, E30, and even further up.

However, the ethanol blending program faced its share of challenges. Last year, there was social media outrage over the issue from certain sections of the general public and media, who worried about its corrosive nature harming the health of their vehicles. Motorists, especially those with older vehicles not explicitly designed for E20, voiced fears of a drastic reduction in mileage and long-term corrosion of mechanical components.

Anecdotal reports suggest efficiency losses of 15-20%, although official Automotive Research Association of India tests indicate a smaller dip of 1-6% , varying by vehicle and usage. Although the government denied the allegations, with Minister Nitin Gadkari even terming them "politically motivated", critics' apprehensions have not been successfully addressed.

Consequently, the ethanol blending program appears to have plateaued since then, as the government has not officially announced any policy regarding increasing the blending levels.

Bharati Balaji, Dy. Director General, All India Distillers’ Association (AIDA) stated that the ethanol blending programme assumes critical importance in this context (Iran-US-Israel war). Accelerating the adoption of higher blending levels will not only reduce import dependence but also enhance energy security and provide greater stability against external shocks. India’s ethanol industry has already made substantial investments and is well-positioned to support this transition.India’s 1800 crore litre ethanol capacity is a strategic energy reserve to explore. "A calibrated and forward-looking roadmap to increase blending targets will be essential to fully leverage the country’s existing production capacity and ensure long-term sustainability of the biofuel ecosystem" Balaji noted.

The Stalled Promise of CBG

While ethanol has flourished, India’s SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation) program has languished. Originally targeting 5,000 Compressed Biogas (CBG) plants, the program has barely 130 plants on the ground.

In 2018, the Indian government unveiled an energy roadmap that was as audacious as it was green: a plan to deploy 5,000 large-scale compressed biogas (CBG) plants to convert the nation’s agricultural waste into 15 million metric tons of homegrown fuel. Seven years into the initiative, known as SATAT (Sustainable Alternative Towards Affordable Transportation), the arithmetic of India’s energy transition is failing to add up.

As of January 2026, only 133 plants are functional, producing a mere 926 tonnes per day. This supply crunch comes at a precarious time for the domestic automotive industry. Sales of CNG-powered passenger vehicles have surged, with market share jumping from 6% in 2020 to nearly 20% in 2025. While major manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors have moved aggressively toward gas-based models, the fueling infrastructure remains stuck in a cycle of lack of local focusl and systemic bottlenecks.

Compressed Biogas (CBG) is a renewable, eco-friendly fuel chemically identical to the natural gas (CNG) used to power cars and trucks. While standard natural gas is a fossil fuel extracted from the earth, CBG is green because it is produced from organic waste that would otherwise be discarded or burned.

Dr. DK Ojha, Deputy Director General with the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas (MOPNG), during a recent interaction with Autocar Professional suggested that biofuels, the fuels derived from organic matter like sugar, bamboo and others, are poised for significantly faster adoption by the automotive sector than electric vehicles (EVs). This shift is not merely a matter of preference but a pragmatic response to India’s unique economic and logistical landscape.

A Circular Future

Despite the current hurdles, the strategic imperative is clear. The move toward a bio-energy-led economy is not just about fuel; it is a circular economy model that keeps capital within the country. By shifting from imported crude to domestic ethanol and CBG, India can stop billions of dollars from flowing out to foreign regimes.

“If we build our own energy, produced within our borders, from our own resources, we don’t just insulate ourselves, we future-proof the nation." A circular bioeconomy can transform India’s vast agro-produce and agro-residue into sustainable fuels, reduce import dependence, and power true energy self-reliance. This is not just resilience, it is sovereignty in action.” Mulay concludes. As the global energy map is redrawn by conflict and new alliances, India’s best defense may well be its own fields.

“Despite 25% Price Rise, Fundamentals Intact for Future Growth”: Audi’s Dhillon

Ketan Thakkar — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 15:25:59

India's luxury car market should have been in a far stronger place by now. Wealth is rising, aspiration is deepening, and premiumisation is visible across segments. Yet, volumes have stayed stubbornly range-bound.

The segment continues to operate at 50,000–52,000 units annually and 1–1.5% penetration of the overall passenger vehicle market. For a market of India's size, this remains disproportionately small.

For Balbir Singh Dhillon, Head of Audi India, the explanation lies in a fundamental reset. "If you see the last five years, the prices of luxury cars have gone up by about 25%. That's unusual. The starting transaction price has moved significantly higher," he said.

That shift has pushed the average price of a luxury car beyond ₹50–60 lakh, raising the entry threshold and, in turn, slowing the pace at which first-time buyers are stepping into the segment.

Part of the reason has been currency movements. The rupee has seen a sharp 15–20% depreciation against the euro over the past 12–18 months, significantly increasing import and localisation costs for luxury carmakers with euro-linked supply chains. Manufacturers have been able to pass on a significant portion of these increases to customers, supporting higher realisations, though not without tempering volume growth.

A More Staggered Path Into Luxury

The impact is not a collapse in demand, but a shift in how that demand is playing out.

What was once a relatively direct jump from mass-market to luxury has become more staggered. Buyers are increasingly pausing at ₹25–40 lakh premium offerings from mainstream manufacturers, which now deliver higher levels of features and perceived luxury, effectively stretching the upgrade cycle.

The competitive intensity at the top end is also evolving. The growing presence of EVs, along with the entry and expansion of newer players such as MG Motor and BYD, is widening the choice set within the broader premium and luxury space. This is likely to be further bolstered by JSW's upcoming automotive foray under its own brand, adding another layer of competition in the electrified and premium segments.

"Today, customers are evaluating more options before making that move. That's a natural evolution of the market," Dhillon said. However, he sees a positive side to the rising appetite for the premium-mainstream offerings. "Jumping from ₹15 lakh to ₹50 lakh is not easy. But if someone is already at ₹30–35 lakh, we are widening the base of future luxury buyers.”

Higher Prices, Stronger Realisations

Even as volumes have seen moderate expansion, or may be because of that, the per-car realisations have gone up. Buyers are increasingly opting for higher trims, greater personalisation and feature-rich variants, along with a visible shift toward top-end models within the luxury portfolio.

Hence, the top-end of the market continues to sustain strong growth momentum, indicating that demand at higher price points remains resilient even as entry-level luxury sees slower expansion.

Similarly, there is no noticeable drop in loyalty. The luxury car market is increasingly being sustained by existing customers upgrading within the ecosystem, rather than relying solely on first-time buyers. While the top of the funnel may be expanding more gradually, the conversion and retention within the segment are strengthening, improving lifetime value per customer.

"Customer loyalty today is among the highest we have seen. That's a very important indicator for long-term growth," he added. For Dhillon, one in three Audi buyers is a repeat customer. The company now sells one pre-owned car for every new car. "For every new car that we sell, we are also selling one pre-owned car. And once a customer enters luxury, 95% of them don't leave," he noted.

The Next Growth Triggers

Dhillon, nevertheless, is a strong believer in the broader story. "Last year alone, India added around 60 billionaires. In a country with about 360 billionaires, that tells you how fast wealth is getting created," Dhillon said.

Wealth creation, he believes, will get a boost thanks to macroeconomic shifts, including trade agreements such as the India–EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA). "For me, only 20% of the FTA story is about cars. The remaining 80% is about wealth creation," Dhillon said. "When wealth gets created and money comes into people's hands, luxury consumption will grow. That's the real trigger," he said.

Audi's Reset

Audi's recent performance in India cannot be viewed in isolation from its strategic choices. The brand has, over the past few years, slipped down the pecking order, exiting key segments such as diesel and facing gaps in its EV portfolio, even as rivals expanded aggressively across powertrains.

Dhillon pushed back on the idea of underperformance. "We have to look at the segments we are participating in. In those segments, we continue to have a sizable presence," he said.

The absence of diesel and the temporary gap in EV offerings have undoubtedly constrained volumes, but Dhillon framed these as portfolio choices rather than structural weaknesses, pointing to a broader product reset underway globally.

What he did confirm is that 2026 will be a defining year, with a phased rollout of new products and a clearer articulation of strategy expected in the coming months.

"This is going to be a defining year for us. We will start bringing in new products and share more details at the right time," he said. "Our endeavour will be to grow in line with the market, if not faster. The numbers will follow as the right products come in," he said.

For Audi, the path back is likely to be defined not by a single breakthrough, but by a measured rebuild of portfolio depth and market relevance, aligned with a broader industry transition that is still playing out.

Why Women-led Factory Floors Make Business Sense

Anurag Chaturvedi — Thu, 12 Mar 2026 14:47:34

Walk into a battery assembly plant in India's southern automotive belt today, and you are likely to find something that would have been unusual on a car factory floor a decade ago: most of the workers are women.

This is no coincidence, nor is it a CSR initiative. It is the result of what electric vehicles demand.

Battery assembly, sensor calibration, and electronics integration require fine motor control, sustained concentration, and accuracy. Where the internal combustion engine once valued physical strength, the EV prioritises dexterity—and increasingly, working alongside robots that perform what muscle once did. As automation takes over lifting, pressing, and torque-heavy tasks that previously defined the male-dominated factory floor, what remains is work that no longer sorts by gender. Companies have followed this logic to its practical conclusion.

The results are tangible. Women make up less than 20 percent of the workforce in heavy assembly, according to estimates from TeamLease, one of India's largest staffing firms. In component manufacturing—dashboards, instrument clusters, and electronics—that share rises to between 30 and 40 percent. The gap aligns almost exactly with where electrification, and the automation accompanying it, has advanced most.

"Manufacturing is now moving towards precision-based quality robotics, which is actually opening many opportunities for women to enter the field," says Malvika Mathur, Director at Deloitte India's automotive practice. She argues that what the industry is experiencing is not a cultural shift but a structural one: the nature of the work changed first, followed by the workforce.

The Business Case

Balasubramanian Anantha Narayanan, Senior Vice President at TeamLease, has spent years placing workers across automotive corridors. He describes the original rationale straightforwardly. Companies in these regions found that women offered comparable skills, lower attrition, and longer tenure. The business case, he states, is simple.

The retention trend has a specific shape. Many women placed by firms are second earners in their households. A small wage increase at a competitor is rarely worth risking their stable secondary income. Men, often primary breadwinners, tend to switch jobs out of necessity for the same increment. Over time, this results in female-majority factory floors being more stable and cheaper to maintain.

Regulatory changes have further influenced this calculation. Amendments to labour laws now allow women to work night shifts beyond 7 PM. "So even from your tier 3, tier 4 cities, where the employer needs to make adequate arrangements, that push has already come into play," Mathur says. Equal opportunity, coupled with proper safety and transport infrastructure, provides access to a labour supply previously unavailable on second and third shifts.

The EV transition sharpened this logic into a hiring template. Balasubramanian describes battery manufacturing plants in the South as the clearest examples. He notes that factories set up to build EV batteries are predominantly or entirely run by women. This isn't a diversity target; it is a hiring decision based on productivity in a manufacturing segment that barely existed at scale five years ago.

A Perception That the Work Has Outpaced

Malvika Mathur joined the automotive industry about fifteen years ago. "When I joined as a young trainee, there was less representation of women across the automotive sector," she recalls. "Automotive is often perceived as a man's domain because of the physical nature of the work. Everyone thinks manufacturing involves heavy lifting."

This perception is now fundamentally at odds with the industry's current state.

The shift matters because perception shapes the pipeline. For years, women avoided automotive manufacturing not because they couldn't do the work, but because the image of the work discouraged them. EV manufacturing is gradually changing that image from within. A factory floor focused on circuit boards and battery modules looks different from one centred on engine blocks and drivetrains—and it hires differently.

Rajat Mahajan, Partner and Automotive Sector Leader at Deloitte India, identifies visibility as the key mechanism that bridges this gap. "Over time, because of women in senior roles, they rise through the hierarchy," he explains. "They also come from outside and challenge the status quo, inspiring other women to see them as role models."

Data Behind the Change

Broader labour market data reflects the direction of this shift. The government's Periodic Labour Force Survey published in November 2025 reports an overall female labour force participation rate of 35.1 percent, up from 32.0 percent in June the same year. The rural female rate rose sharply to 39.7 percent from 35.2 percent. Female unemployment fell from 5.4 percent in October to 4.8 percent in November.

These numbers indicate more than increased female job seekers; industries are actively integrating women into the workforce. The rural female Worker Population Ratio rose to 38.4 percent in November 2025, suggesting that factory floors and industrial corridors are contributing more to women's paid work than office settings.

India's automotive sector accounts for 7.1 percent of GDP, roughly 49 percent of manufacturing output, employs around four million people directly, and supports an estimated 26 million jobs across its value chain. Even small shifts in gender composition translate into large absolute numbers.

The GCC layer introduces another perspective. India's automotive Global Capability Centres—engineering and technology hubs established by major manufacturers—are seeing strong female participation in engineering, product development, and software, according to Mahajan. Mathur estimates women comprise roughly 43 percent of STEM enrolment in India, while Mahajan says at least 30 percent of entry-level software engineers are women.

Geography of Change

The transformation is most visible where industrial density and infrastructure converge: Tamil Nadu's Greater Chennai manufacturing belt, the Hosur corridor on the Karnataka border, and automotive clusters in Maharashtra and Gujarat. Balasubramanian attributes this partly to the South's historically higher female literacy rates and comparatively lower stigma around women in formal employment.

Retaining women once employed has required investments the industry once overlooked. "Many factories don't even have separate toilets for women, and if they do, they're not kept clean," Balasubramanian explains. Companies are now offering subsidised transport, meals, and creche facilities. Mixed-gender security teams are also being deployed so female workers have someone they can approach if they feel unsafe.

What the Programmes Reveal

The industry's investment in developing this workforce is becoming measurable through CSR disclosures. Under the Companies Act 2013, eligible companies must allocate two percent of average net profits to CSR, including vocational skill development.

The 2026 CSR Activities of the Indian Automobile Industry, published by the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, reports on disclosures from 17 member OEMs. What emerges is less a coordinated strategy and more a series of parallel efforts—all pointing in the same direction.

Hero MotoCorp's Project Saksham has trained 4,113 women as two-wheeler technicians and sales professionals across 21 states. Of these, 3,555 have been certified and 1,660 placed in jobs. The roughly 40 percent placement rate highlights both the programme's scale and the gap between training and employment.

Mahindra & Mahindra's Project Kaabil has reached over 1.1 million women from marginalised communities. Skoda Auto Volkswagen India has upgraded five all-women ITIs in Maharashtra, embedding robotics, mechatronics, and paint technologies into their curricula.

JSW MG Motor India's Wings to Fly initiative trained women to drive, linking mobility access to employment. Mercedes-Benz India's Katalyst programme supported 100 female engineering students with more than 300 hours of training and industry internships.

The Middle Gap

The challenge now is not entry but retention and progression.

Balasubramanian notes that women are most accessible within a specific life stage—between roughly 18 and 25—after entering the workforce but before marriage changes their circumstances. Many plan to work for four to six years, save money, and then leave the workforce.

This model fills entry-level roles at scale but does not create a sustainable career pipeline. "There are a lot of drop-offs happening as we go up the ladder," Mathur says. "One thing we need to focus on is how to get younger women into the fold—and how to keep them there."

There are exceptions. Balasubramanian mentions a woman who began as an apprentice at a major auto plant and, within five years, was supervising 250 people. But such cases remain rare.

The issue is structural. The industry has invested heavily in bringing women in at the entry point, but the infrastructure for what follows—flexible return-to-work schemes, mid-career re-entry after family breaks, and clear pathways from shop floor to supervisory roles—is not yet standard practice.

The EV transition has changed who the industry hires. Whether it will change how far women can advance remains to be seen.

What the Statistics Have Not Yet Captured

India's November 2025 PLFS data complicates a straightforwardly optimistic narrative. While rural female labour participation has surged, urban participation remains steady at around 25.5 percent.

The expansion of Global Capability Centres and white-collar automotive roles has not yet shifted the urban headline number. Structural shifts often appear on factory floors long before they show up in national statistics.

The factory floors of Hosur, Sanand, and Aurangabad reveal something policy debates have long sought: employer demand that precedes social mandate.

Companies themselves describe the change in practical terms.

"These things are not PR stunts," Balasubramanian says. "There is a genuine business case for it."

That distinction between goodwill and productivity is what the EV transition has quietly made possible. The industry did not set out to hire more women. It set out to build a different kind of car. The workforce followed the work.

Why India’s CBG Revolution is Stuck in Neutral

Arunima Pal — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 16:51:41

As of January 2026, only 133 plants are functional, producing a mere 926 tonnes per day. This supply crunch comes at a precarious time for the domestic automotive industry. Sales of CNG-powered passenger vehicles have surged, with market share jumping from 6% in 2020 to nearly 20% in 2025. While major manufacturers like Maruti Suzuki and Tata Motors have moved aggressively toward gas-based models, the infrastructure required to fuel them remains stuck in a cycle of hyper-local and systemic bottlenecks.

Compressed Biogas (CBG) is a renewable, eco-friendly fuel chemically identical to the natural gas (CNG) used to power cars and trucks. While standard natural gas is a fossil fuel extracted from the earth, CBG is considered green because it is produced from organic waste that would otherwise be discarded or burned.

The Institutional Hurdle
The primary friction point isn't a lack of technology, but a lack of administrative continuity. Industry analysts note that waste-to-fuel projects often live or die based on the personal enthusiasm of individual city commissioners. “The commissioner may start a project with enthusiasm but then get transferred within two years, leaving the next official without the same commitment to carry it on,” one expert observed during the recent India Energy Week 2026.

This instability is compounded by a fragmented regulatory landscape. Project developers must navigate upwards of eight government departments that rarely coordinate. Charlotte Morton, Chief Executive of the World Biogas Association, noted that policies across India today are very fragmented, preventing many developers from reaching financial close.

Logistical and Structural Strains
Unlike the ethanol sector, which benefits from centralized feedstock, CBG requires coordinating thousands of small-scale farmers across dispersed landholdings. For plants utilizing Municipal Solid Waste (MSW), the challenge is even more granular: inadequate pre-segregation leads to contaminated waste that damages expensive digestion equipment and suppresses gas yields.

Once produced, getting the gas to the pump is the next crisis. Currently, only 15% of functional CBG plants are connected to City Gas Distribution (CGD) networks. The remaining facilities rely on mobile cascades—pressurized cylinders moved by truck—which are expensive and logistically complex. A report by the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlighted that this method increases the fuel’s carbon footprint, potentially defeating the purpose of a green fuel.

The Economics of Waste
The financial viability of these plants is further strained by low utilization rates. While European biogas plants often operate above 80% capacity, Indian facilities frequently hover between 20% and 60% due to seasonal feedstock variability.

Furthermore, a CBG plant is as much a fertilizer factory as it is a fuel station. “CBG is a biological living ecosystem, not just a plant,” explained an executive from BPCL. For every 10 tons of gas produced, the process generates approximately 25 tons of solid manure and 80 tons of liquid waste. Without a robust local market for this Fermented Organic Manure (FOM), plants can become “physically and financially clogged.”

Policy as a Catalyst
Recognizing these gaps, New Delhi has introduced a suite of viability gap funding measures. The Development of Pipeline Infrastructure (DPI) scheme now covers 50% of the cost of connecting plants to the national grid. Similarly, the Biomass Aggregation Machinery (BAM) scheme offers 50% subsidies for procuring collection equipment.

To shore up demand, the government has instituted a mandatory blending mandate, starting at 1% for FY 2025-26 and rising to 5% by FY 2028-29. There is also a push to formalize the by-product market, with a subsidy of Rs 1,500 per metric tonne for quality-tested organic manure.

The Road Ahead
Despite the slow start, industry leaders maintain a posture of realistic optimism. The consensus is that the vision requires a more cohesive national biogas mission to bridge the gap between local waste and the national gas station.

As Charlotte Morton of the World Biogas Association summarized: “The political will and ambition are there. What is required is a coordinated effort to bring everything together.” For India’s automotive sector, the success of that coordination will determine whether its gas-powered future is fueled by domestic waste or remains tethered to imported energy.

The Car that Exists Before it Exists

Anurag Chaturvedi — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 16:22:56

Across four vehicle development programmes, engines built by Jaguar Land Rover, Isuzu, Mahindra, and Sharda Motor Industries, engineers using the same simulation software cut development time by an average of 58% and reduced costs by 43%. Those are not projections. They are outcomes—documented across production programmes, on hardware that is on the road today.

The numbers deserve a moment because they reframe a question the automotive industry usually treats as an engineering one. It is a question of whether a manufacturer can afford not to, particularly in India, where development timelines are compressing and powertrain complexity is multiplying.

When Mahindra launched the BE 6 and XEV 9e last year, the vehicles had already survived a Rajasthan summer, climbed the Sahyadris, and cruised the Mumbai–Pune Expressway hundreds of times. Long before the first physical prototype was signed off, the company's engineering teams had run each of those scenarios virtually — testing how Indian heat, Indian gradients, and Indian traffic would affect range, battery performance, and thermal behaviour.

They then used those findings to shape the design itself. By the time a mule hit the tarmac, it was not discovering problems. It was confirming that a design already stress-tested in ways no proving ground could replicate — at speed or at scale — had held up. An earlier Mahindra programme developing a BS6 engine through the same platform had come in at 50% of its original development timeline and 40% below projected cost.

This is system simulation in practice.

What is simulation, and how is it different from ordinary CAD?

The automotive industry is familiar with CAD — Computer-Aided Design — which produces the geometry of a part or a vehicle. Simulation is a different discipline. Computer-Aided Engineering (CAE) tools model not what something looks like, but how it behaves under thermal stress, under electrical load, under the particular punishment of Indian roads, and across thousands of operating conditions simultaneously.

In a vehicle context, this means building mathematical models of individual systems, the battery pack, the thermal circuit, the engine, the HVAC, and integrating them so the software can solve their interactions together. What happens to cabin temperature when the battery is working hard on a 42-degree afternoon? How does that change the range calculation? How should the cooling circuit respond, and what does that response cost in energy?

These are not questions a CAD file can answer. A simulation model can — in minutes, not months, and without consuming a single physical part.

As Matthew Warner, Vice President at Gamma Technologies, put it at his company's annual technical conference in Pune this February: “The idea is to reuse that value you have in your CAE model to answer questions in other parts of the development organisation — controls, test, requirements engineering. One model that delivers consistent results regardless of the application.”

One source of truth, used everywhere. The 58% time saving, in large part, lives in that sentence.

Why the Urgency?

Three forces have converged to make simulation less of an engineering preference and more of a commercial necessity.

The first is powertrain complexity. The clean narrative of the green mobility transition has given way to something messier. OEMs are simultaneously developing battery EVs, hybrids, and updated internal combustion vehicles — not sequentially but in parallel across engineering teams. Each architecture demands its own simulation environment and its own validation loop. The workload has multiplied without a proportional expansion in headcount or timeline.

The second is the shrinking product cycle. “The cycle of product development has reduced significantly, from 3 to 5 years to now nearly 2 years,” said Dr N.H. Walke, Senior Director at ARAI, at the SIAT 2026 conclave in Pune, which drew a record 2,000-plus abstract submissions this year, with testing as its dominant theme. “Now it is concurrent engineering. Simulation, component development, and proving — all these tests have to happen simultaneously.”

A programme that could once afford to discover problems in sequence must now surface and resolve them in parallel. Isuzu Technical's commercial diesel programme, using the same simulation platform, cut dynamometer testing hours by 60% and costs by 45%, time that would otherwise have sat in physical test queues. Jaguar Land Rover's Ingenium 2.0L diesel programme achieved a 50% reduction in development cycle time and 35-40% cost savings.

The pattern is consistent enough across programmes to be structural rather than exceptional.

The third force is specifically Indian: the historical cost of proving vehicles abroad. For validation infrastructure that barely existed domestically, Indian OEMs travelled to European facilities — absorbing the time, the cost, and the strategic inconvenience of developing products calibrated to foreign conditions.

ARAI is closing the gap with domestic investment in crash labs, advanced battery test facilities, and ADAS proving grounds. Simulation compounds the value of that infrastructure by reducing the number of physical runs a validated design actually needs — which, in practical terms, also reduces how many flights an Indian engineering team needs to book to Stuttgart or Gaydon.

The market has priced the trajectory accordingly. Automotive simulation software was valued at $7.06 billion globally in 2025 and is projected to reach $24.35 billion by 2034, a CAGR of 14.75%, according to Precedence Research.

A Company that Saw this Coming in 1994

Gamma Technologies was founded in Illinois thirty-one years ago on a premise that was, at the time, contrarian. Most CAE vendors were building tools for single-physics, single-component analysis. GT's founders believed the more valuable problem was the system as a whole.

“Products do not exist in single physics domains — they exist as multi-physics systems,” says Dimple Shah, who has led the company as CEO since 2020 and has worked in CAE since 1991. “The underlying thesis was that with time, the complexity of systems would increase, and as complexity increases, it becomes important to understand the interdependencies of subsystems with each other.”

Thirty years later, that thesis is mainstream. GT-SUITE, Gamma's flagship platform, covers engine performance, battery electrochemistry, electric powertrain, thermal management, exhaust aftertreatment, fuel cells, and HVAC within a single integrated environment. Its user base spans every major global OEM; in India, it includes Tata Motors and Mahindra.

GTTC 2026 was the occasion to launch GT Intelligence Studio — an AI-native addition to the platform that layers generative AI and machine-learning meta-models onto the existing physics engine. The announcement raises an obvious question from engineers working in safety-critical systems: how do you trust an AI model when the output affects brake calibration or a battery management decision?

Shah's answer is grounded rather than promotional. “The quality of meta-models depends on the quality of the datasets they are trained on. Our meta-models are trained on physics data, which can also be augmented by data from external sources. Because a large part comes from physics itself, the trust in the model is high. One should not deploy meta-models blindly; just like any simulation model, you need confidence that it is applicable in the range you intend to deploy it.”

Warner adds context that matters: the machine learning component is not a new development. “We have had it in our software for almost 20 years. The usage of ML meta-models is often not deployed to an actual vehicle in operation. They are utilised within the development process of the vehicle, so in that use case they are not safety mission-critical.”

What is genuinely new is the generative AI layer and, more practically, the cloud platform GT-PLAY that places validated simulation models in the hands of engineers across an enterprise who are not simulation specialists, but control teams, test planners, and product managers.

India at par, with One Honest Caveat

The Mahindra presentation at GTTC 2026 showed what that looks like in practice, from an Indian engineering team operating at the front of the field.

On the BE 6 and XEV 9e programmes, the company's Vehicle Performance Simulation group ran integrated thermal modelling that quantified the range impact of India's climate extremes. Aerodynamic trade-off analysis mapped the relationship between drag coefficient, vehicle weight, and range across different feature configurations before a physical prototype carried any of them.

A pan-India virtual drive exercise mapped highway, ghat, and city profiles across the country's geographic zones, accounting for gradient, AC load, and regional speed distributions. The same team framed simulation as virtual calibration at the front end, battery health monitoring and predictive maintenance post-launch, and digital twins that give engineers objective data against which to audit subjective customer feedback from the field.

Shah's assessment of where Indian OEMs stand is precise: “Indian companies are truly aspirational. They are becoming very strong contenders on a global scale. At this conference, when I compare the quality of papers being presented by our community to our European, American, and Japanese conferences, I see no difference. The user community is at par.”

The caveat he offers is the right one to leave with. “Many global OEM companies look at technologies five to ten years out, building core expertise in-house. Some companies in India could do more of that. One area where India could do more is fundamental research. Today, they do it, but largely through partners and collaborators rather than in-house. That is going to be one of the key trends in the coming years.”

There is a clear distinction between using simulation tools at a world-class level and generating the foundational knowledge that shapes what those tools do next. The 58% and 43% figures were earned by engineering teams who knew how to run the software. The companies that will define the next version of that software are the ones building that knowledge in-house, ahead of the programmes that will need it.

Can Isobutanol Solve Diesel’s Dirty Emissions Secret?

Arunima Pal — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 14:16:04

The automotive industry's quest to decarbonize heavy-duty trucking consistently hits a wall: the stubborn efficiency of the diesel engine. While light-duty vehicles move toward electrification, the weight and range requirements of 19-ton trucks and long-haul freight make batteries a difficult sell. Amidst this struggle, isobutanol, a higher-order alcohol, is being hailed by industry insiders as a diesel-blending alternative that could bridge the gap, yet it remains conspicuously absent from commercial markets.

Isobutanol is produced using the same biological feedstocks as ethanol, rather than being a derivative of ethanol itself. These include grains, specifically maize or broken rice. Industry experts have proposed using sugarcane molasses-based feedstocks for pilot isobutanol plants to utilize excess sugar industry byproducts.

This development seems significant considering the diesel blending programme. This initiative, governed by India’s National Policy on Biofuels (NPB), was originally established in 2018 and subsequently amended in 2022. Its primary objective is to reduce the country’s heavy reliance on imported crude oil and lower emissions in the heavy-duty transport sector. The programme sets an indicative target of achieving 5% biodiesel blending in diesel by 2030. However, unlike the ethanol blending programme for gasoline, which reached its 20% target ahead of schedule, the biodiesel programme has struggled. Current blending levels are estimated at only 1% to 2%. The target has been missed frequently due to infrastructure and feedstock challenges, which include unused cooking oil, non-edible oilseeds, and fats, oils, and greases.

The issues surrounding the adoption of isobutanol were intensely debated at the recently held India Energy Week 2026 in Goa.

The Emissions Engine

Unlike ethanol, which is primarily blended into gasoline, isobutanol offers a chemical profile much closer to petroleum diesel. Recent trials suggest that when mixed with an emulsifier, isobutanol can drastically reduce emissions in heavy engines while simultaneously increasing fuel efficiency. This makes it a prime candidate for a "drop-in" fuel, one that doesn't require massive overhauls of existing supply chains.

However, the path from trial to tank is fraught with obstacles. Bharati Balaji, Director of the All India Distillers’ Association (AIDA), notes that while the potential is high, the market is still in its infancy. "Apparently, if you mix isobutanol with an emulsifier... emissions reduce drastically and engine efficiencies increase," Balaji stated, though cautioning that "it’s too nascent to give away anything" regarding commercial timelines.

The Swedish Paradox

The mystery of isobutanol lies in its successful, yet isolated pilot models. Sweden has long served as the global laboratory for isobutanol blending, proving its technical viability in real-world conditions. Despite these successful northern models, there isn't a single full-scale commercial isobutanol plant operating globally.

This lack of scale is often attributed to a "wait-and-see" approach from both governments and investors. While the technology is proven at the laboratory and pilot stages, the leap to a commercial-scale facility requires significant capital that hasn't yet been triggered by hard mandates.

Retrofitting the Myth

It is a common misconception that ethanol is converted into isobutanol; in reality, isobutanol cannot be made from ethanol. Instead, the production process is adjusted to produce isobutanol directly from the original raw material.

A central debate within the automotive fuel sector is whether existing ethanol distilleries, often called 1G plants (first-generation refineries that process corn or sugarcane), can be converted to produce isobutanol. Skeptics have called this a myth, citing the fundamental biochemical differences between ethanol and isobutanol fermentation.

Reality, however, may lie in a hybrid approach. Some energy majors are exploring retrofitting existing 1G facilities to produce both products simultaneously. Anshul Gupta, Senior Manager at BPCL, highlighted that their teams found that "if the 1G plant can be retrofitted rightly... one ton of the feed probably can produce some percentage of ethanol and some percentage of [isobutanol]." This dual-track production could resolve the issue by using the same feedstock to target both the gasoline and diesel markets.

BPCL has been working on isobutanol for the last two years. They recently conducted three months of successful trials using isobutanol in stationary engines (specifically mentioning Cummins engines), yielding clear results. To further prove the fuel's viability, BPCL has partnered with IIT and IIP (Indian Institute of Petroleum) for data validation. They are committing significant funding to test the fuel across 33 different vehicle types in India to monitor performance and blending stability. However, while technical progress is being made, oil marketing companies (OMCs) like BPCL cannot blend isobutanol beyond certain limits without a government mandate.

Even if the production issues are solved, the automotive industry faces a "chicken-and-egg" scenario. Manufacturers are hesitant to mass-produce isobutanol-compatible engines without a guaranteed fuel supply, while fuel producers won't scale up without confirmed demand. Without a mandate from oil marketing companies to ensure the fuel is available at the point of consumption, even ready-to-market technologies remain idle.

Support for Research and Piloting on the Cards?

The Indian government has indicated to the industry that if they can demonstrate the technical and commercial viability of producing isobutanol through minor tweaking and investment in existing ethanol plants, a formal policy framework, including potential subsidies, will follow. The International Energy Agency (IEA) has recommended that India provide financial support for the continued research, testing, and piloting of isobutanol to help meet diesel blending targets.

While not yet specific to isobutanol, several existing schemes for the ethanol industry are seen as potential vehicles for isobutanol production. The Scheme to Enhance Ethanol Distillation Capacity provides interest subventions (6% per annum or 50% of the bank rate) for retrofitting existing facilities. Since isobutanol can be produced by retrofitting first-generation (1G) ethanol plants, industry leaders are exploring this as a pathway to simultaneously produce both fuels.

Likewise, the Pradhan Mantri JI-VAN Yojana programme provides financial support for demonstration-scale and commercial-scale projects for new ethanol production pathways. Industry discussions suggest that higher-order alcohols like isobutanol could eventually fall under such innovation-focused funding if they leverage similar feedstocks and supply chains.

Way Forward

The future of isobutanol as a diesel saviour hinges on a delicate trifecta of regulatory certainty, technological intelligence, and infrastructure scaling. While successful pilots in Sweden and emerging retrofitting concepts in India suggest that the problems around isobutanol production are slowly being dismantled, the lack of a commercial-scale plant remains a glaring void in the green energy transition.

For the automotive industry, isobutanol offers a rare opportunity to clean up the dirtiest segments of transportation without abandoning the internal combustion engine. However, until governments provide the hard mandates necessary to unlock project financing, isobutanol will likely remain a phantom in the fuel tank — a high-potential solution that everyone talks about, but no one can buy.

RSB Group Prepares for Hyper-Growth: New Markets, Tech and Mission ₹10,000 Cr

Darshan Nakhwa — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 20:03:09

In 1973, when a young engineering graduate named R.K. Behera got a small plot in Jamshedpur from industrial development corporation neither he nor his younger brother S.K. Behera could have imagined that the modest sheet-metal unit they were building would one day become one of India’s respected driveline manufacturers. With a capital pool that barely touched Rs 1.5 lakh, the enterprise relied on tenacity and an instinctive understanding of what quality meant long before the word became corporate vocabulary.

The early years were difficult. Orders were scarce, engineering credibility had to be earned, and the Behera brothers spent much of the 1970s convincing customers that they could meet global standards. Yet the foundation they laid during those years is the one RSB Group still builds on today: never compromise on quality and on values.

More than fifty years later, that workshop has grown into a diversified group with 15 manufacturing units spread across India, the United States and Mexico. It has a reputation for disciplined engineering, machining, and product development in one of the most demanding parts of the automotive value chain. Now the company is on the brink of a new chapter, one that could reposition it as a global mobility systems player.

Standing at Inflection Point

RSB Group today is a business of scale and complexity. Its propeller shafts hold a dominant market share in India’s medium and heavy commercial vehicle segment. Its axles, gears and driveline assemblies form the backbone of marquee truck platforms. Its construction equipment aggregates supply some of the world’s best-known off-highway OEMs. It also produces suspension systems, king pin, fifth wheel coupling, and has casting and forging facilities. Further, the component maker supplies parts for passenger cars, farm equipment and industrial applications.

Yet the company’s ambitions have grown beyond being a domestic champion. It currently operates at a consolidated revenue of over Rs 3,000 crore. In the next five years, it aims to rewrite that number entirely. RSB has set a target of Rs 10,000 crore, a plan to triple topline within five years through a combination of deeper localisation, aggressive exports, a stronger aftermarket sales and selective acquisitions.

“For us, the question is simple. Either you grow, or you stagnate,” says Rajnikant Behera, Executive Director Aftermarket and Corporate Governance. “We have reached a stage where the next leap requires scale, technology, and a global mindset. That is why we needed a partner like Bain Capital.”

New Strategic Muscle

Bain Capital’s investment in 2023 brought more than financial heft. It brought a new rhythm to the organisation. Within a year, Bain and McKinsey worked with RSB to build a structured blueprint for the next decade. The focus is clear: strengthen the core, globalise the footprint, and widen the product canvas.

Behera describes it as a shift from organic evolution to strategic acceleration. “In our first twenty-five years, we built the foundation. In the next twenty-five, we climbed the value chain. The next five years will be about scaling in a way we have never done before.”

The plan involves an annual capex of Rs 100 to 150 crore. This excludes acquisitions, which the company views as essential to compress time-to-market as technologies change. RSB is scanning opportunities in driveline electronics, EV systems, defence components and rail technologies. The deals will be selective and strategically small, designed to add capability rather than bulk.

Building the Future

If the old RSB was built on steel, machining and mechanical precision, the new RSB is being engineered around software-heavy, next-generation electrified systems. The company has already developed its own EV reducers, e-axles, gearbox, motor technologies and pre-axle assemblies for electric commercial vehicles. Several powertrain solutions are under development for light EVs. In the United States, RSB has entered early-stage supply discussions for electric dirt bikes.

“We want to be present where mobility is shifting. Whether it is two-wheelers, three-wheelers, light commercial EVs or advanced hybrids, we have built the engineering bench strength to participate,” Behera says.

The group is also aiming to break into defence and railways. These are highly regulated sectors with long qualification cycles, but RSB believes its precision manufacturing heritage gives it an edge. The company is currently mapping the channel dynamics and tendering mechanisms that define government-led procurement.

The Global Play

RSB’s global presence began with a first-of-its-kind move in 2007 when it acquired Miller Brothers of Michigan. It gave the group a launchpad into the North American market and relationships with Tier-1 giants such as Dana, Eaton and Allison. As many of these customers shifted production to Mexico, RSB followed with a dedicated manufacturing base.

Today, Mexico is a critical part of the company’s export strategy. The US operation serves as an assembly, sales and customer interface hub. Europe is the next frontier. The group already exports to the UK, and internal discussions have begun on whether to establish a physical base somewhere in the continent.

“We are studying FTAs, customer behaviour and regulatory changes. For exports to scale meaningfully, we may need a presence closer to Europe. It has to be backed by strong economics,” Behera says.

How to Survive Cycles

Automotive is cyclical. Commercial vehicles are doubly so. Yet RSB has managed to grow during downturns by adding new products, entering adjacent sectors and building plants close to customers. Flexibility has become a competitive advantage.

The group’s Mexican footprint hedges against US tariffs. Its India operations hedge against Mexico’s cost pressures. Its engineering subsidiary iDesign acts as an internal R&D engine that powers speed-to-market. In a world where volatility has become structural, RSB’s diversified footprint is shaping up as a risk-management model.

The Aftermarket Pivot

For fifty years, the company’s brand recognition has been built inside OEM factories. Now RSB wants that name to resonate in workshops, retail counters and fleet hubs. The aftermarket business, currently a small contributor, is being positioned as a high-margin strategic vertical. The company wants aftermarket to eventually contribute 5 to 15 percent of the business.

“We have done the hardest part. We earned the trust of OEMs. Now we need to take that trust to the aftermarket,” Behera says.

The story of RSB is a story of a company that has moved steadily but consciously toward higher complexity. From sheet metal to machining, from machining to assemblies, from assemblies to complete systems and now to electrified mobility.

Mission 10,000 crore is the next logical leap in that trajectory. It is ambitious, but it is also calculated. It is backed by capital, a global partner with deep M&A capability, a strong engineering backbone and a sector that is transforming faster than ever.

“Our first goal is to lead in the product segments we are in. India first, world next. That is the next five-year view,” Behera says. “After that, strategy evolves. But the intent is clear. We want to build one of India’s strongest engineering companies.”

Beyond Helmets: NeoKavach Wants to Make Rider Airbags India’s Next Safety Habit

Darshan Nakhwa — Mon, 16 Feb 2026 17:16:40

India’s motorcycle culture has changed dramatically over the past decade. Riders are travelling farther, machines are getting more powerful, and protective jackets and gloves are increasingly visible on highways and weekend rides. Yet the core safety conversation has barely moved beyond helmets.

That, according to NeoKavach Managing Director Rajat Bhandari, is where the industry is missing a critical piece. “Rider safety conversations in India have largely revolved around helmets,” Bhandari says. “But real-world accident patterns show that many life-altering injuries occur in areas helmets do not protect. To meaningfully reduce injury severity, we need to think beyond traditional gear and look at intelligent protection that responds instantly during a crash.”

NeoKavach, an Indo-French venture focused on wearable airbag systems for riders, is attempting to push that shift. Its pitch is straightforward: while helmets protect the head, serious injuries and fatalities often involve the spine, neck, and torso — areas left exposed in many accidents. As motorcycles become faster and touring culture grows, that vulnerability becomes more pronounced.

From Niche Gear to Everyday Utility

The company’s strategy, however, is not to position airbags as specialist racing gear or equipment reserved for long-distance rides. Instead, NeoKavach is trying to integrate protection into everyday riding habits.

To that end, it offers two primary formats: an airbag vest that can be worn over existing riding gear, and an airbag-integrated backpack designed for daily use. The latter reflects a deliberate design philosophy — making safety feel like utility rather than an added burden.

“What’s encouraging is that riders are no longer asking whether safety is needed. They’re asking how it can fit naturally into their daily riding,” Bhandari says. “The stronger response to the backpack format shows a clear preference for protection that balances safety, comfort, and practicality.”

The backpack includes features typically associated with commuter gear — storage compartments, waterproof materials, helmet holders, and hydration packs — while housing an airbag system intended to deploy during an accident. The vest, meanwhile, is designed to be worn over existing jackets without replacing them.

The idea is behavioural: if riders already carry a backpack or wear protective gear, embedding an airbag into those habits may increase adoption.

Technology Tuned for Indian Conditions

NeoKavach’s airbag systems rely on a mechanical trigger that activates when a rider is dislodged from the motorcycle, inflating in roughly 100 milliseconds. The aim is to stabilise the neck and protect the upper body before impact.

The company says it opted for mechanical activation over sensor-based systems because Indian riding conditions can be unpredictable. Speed breakers, potholes, and rough roads may trigger false deployments in electronic systems calibrated for more uniform environments.

“World solutions aren’t always India solutions,” Bhandari says. “In our conditions, you need something that deploys reliably in an actual crash but doesn’t misfire because of rough roads or sudden braking.”

The technology itself is not entirely new. NeoKavach’s partner, Helite, has been manufacturing airbag systems in Europe for over two decades, primarily for equestrian sports, motorcycles, and motorsports. What NeoKavach is attempting is localisation — adapting the technology to Indian weather, usage patterns, and price expectations.

Ventilation, for instance, has been a key design consideration. The vest is engineered for airflow and is intended to remain wearable even in high temperatures. “If riders can’t wear it in Indian heat, they won’t wear it at all,” Bhandari notes.

The Affordability Challenge

Perhaps the biggest barrier to adoption of advanced riding gear in India has historically been cost. Imported airbag systems can run into six-figure price tags once duties and logistics are factored in.

NeoKavach’s localisation strategy is aimed at bringing prices down to levels more accessible for premium motorcycle owners. The company says its base vest starts at around ₹32,400, with backpack variants priced higher depending on configuration.

“We wanted this product to be cost-effective and used by as many people as possible,” Bhandari says. “If safety is priced out of reach, adoption will always remain limited.”

Another differentiator the company emphasises is reusability. The airbag’s CO₂ cartridge can be replaced by the user after deployment rather than sending the gear back to a service centre — something that can be costly and inconvenient with some imported systems.

“That usability matters,” Bhandari says. “If a rider has a minor fall on a trip, they should be able to reset the system quickly and continue.”

Early Signals From the Market

NeoKavach says early consumer research indicates a shift in rider mindset. Studies conducted across major cities suggest riders increasingly see advanced safety gear as a necessity rather than a niche accessory. High-risk scenarios such as highways, wet roads, and unpredictable traffic are driving interest in additional protection.

The research also suggests that practicality plays a decisive role in adoption. The airbag backpack format, for instance, scored higher in perceived everyday relevance and willingness to pay, particularly among urban commuters.

“What we’re seeing is that safety adoption is tied to how seamlessly it fits into daily life,” Bhandari says. “If it feels like an extra task, people may not use it consistently. If it feels like part of their routine, they will.”

OEMs, Riders, and the Broader Ecosystem

NeoKavach is also exploring partnerships with motorcycle manufacturers, riding clubs, and racetracks to expand awareness and adoption. The company says discussions are underway with multiple OEMs to integrate airbag systems into accessory ecosystems or co-branded gear offerings.

The long-term opportunity could extend beyond enthusiasts. Delivery riders and fleet operators represent a large and high-risk segment, though pricing and product design would need to adapt for mass adoption.

“Over time, as volumes grow and costs come down, there will be opportunities to bring this into broader segments,” Bhandari says. “But even today, among premium motorcycle owners, the willingness to invest in safety is increasing.”

NeoKavach also sees export potential. Manufacturing in India allows the company to supply products globally while adapting designs to local needs. In some cases, India-specific designs may find traction in overseas markets.

A Gradual Shift in Safety Culture

For now, rider airbags remain a niche product category in India. Helmets are mandatory by law; jackets and gloves are increasingly common among enthusiasts; airbags are still new territory.

But the trajectory of motorcycle safety in global markets suggests that incremental layers of protection tend to become mainstream over time, often driven by a mix of regulation, consumer awareness, and OEM involvement.

“As bikes get more powerful and riding becomes more widespread, the conversation naturally shifts to safety,” Bhandari says. “Helmets were the first step. We believe the next step is protecting the rest of the body.”

Whether wearable airbags become standard gear for Indian riders will depend on how quickly the ecosystem — manufacturers, riders, and policymakers — embraces that idea. For NeoKavach, the goal is to make the technology visible, practical, and affordable enough that riders begin to see it not as optional gear, but as part of riding itself.

Inside Mahindra Last Mile Mobility’s Rs 500 Crore Modular Platform Strategy

Shahkar Abidi — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 20:29:24

About three years ago, during an annual leadership conference in the coastal state of Goa, two of Mahindra & Mahindra’s top executives met to discuss a problem that had remained stagnant for nearly eight decades: the design of the Indian three-wheeler. The industry’s standard silhouette had barely changed since the late 1940s, often prioritizing basic utility over the comfort or dignity of the person behind the wheel.

During that meeting, Pratap Bose, Mahindra’s Chief Design and Creative Officer, took a simple paper napkin and began to draw. "Pratap drew a shape on a napkin for me," recalls Suman Mishra, Managing Director and CEO of Mahindra Last Mile Mobility Limited (MLMML). "We were discussing what a three-wheeler of the future would look like, and he drew a shape similar to this. Standing there, he just made it on that napkin at the table." Mishra was so struck by the vision that she carried a photograph of that napkin sketch for months.

On February 12, that airplane-inspired sketch was rendered into a sheet of steel known as the Mahindra UDO. Launched at an introductory price of Rs 3,58,999, the UDO, according to the company's top leadership, represents the culmination of a multi-year, Rs 500-crore investment aimed at creating a new crispness in last-mile transportation in India.

The Rs 500 Crore Foundation
To bring the UDO to market, Mahindra built an entirely new foundation. The company invested more than Rs 500 crore to create a modular electric vehicle platform. While the UDO is the first to debut on this architecture, the platform is designed for versatility and intended to underpin a variety of future products.

This investment extended deep into Mahindra’s manufacturing infrastructure at its Zaheerabad plant. To support the UDO’s advanced specifications, the facility underwent a massive upgrade, including an all-new automated battery assembly line with significantly expanded capacity. The production floor now features robotized lines, a new weld shop, and an upgraded paint shop designed to handle the vehicle’s unique requirements. A new Trim, Chassis, and Final (TCF) line was also installed to manage the assembly of what Mahindra calls its "autoplane."

"We have invested appropriately in this product," Mishra told Autocar Professional on the sidelines of the vehicle's official launch in Hyderabad, noting that the battery facility alone represented a significant portion of the capital expenditure. This localized manufacturing approach was essential not just for scale but to deliver advanced features at a price point that remains attractive to retail customers.

Engineering the ‘Autoplane’

The final product bears a striking resemblance to Bose’s original napkin sketch, though the intervening years were filled with intensive engineering iterations. Bose describes the design philosophy as "Intellicore," which means a balance of hardcore engineering and intelligent form and function.

"You can’t get off the most beautiful advanced airports or get off a Vande Bharat... and get into a [vehicle] that was designed in the 1950s," Bose remarks. "It needs to be something for the times and for the future."

The company management boasts that the UDO’s design is a radical departure from the "tin can" builds of the past. It features a segment-first full monocoque construction, a unified body structure that provides significantly higher structural strength and a stiffer chassis. This engineering choice eliminates the creaks and twists common in traditional three-wheelers, providing what Mahindra claims is best-in-class ride quality and noise, vibration, and harshness (NVH) levels.

Visibility and safety were also primary drivers. The UDO boasts a windshield that is 200% larger than its competitors, offering the driver an unhindered view, a feature inspired by airplane cockpits. Inside, the driver sits in the pilot (driver) seat with 20% higher cushion density for long-haul comfort. For the first time in the segment, the vehicle includes features like reverse throttle and creep mode, which allow for seamless control in bumper-to-bumper traffic without constant braking.

Quick Turnaround

The journey from that napkin sketch to the factory floor was governed by the Mahindra Product Development System (MPDS). This structured framework involves multiple stage gates—rigorous checkpoints where senior management, including leaders like M&M’s Rajesh Jejurikar, review prototypes and mules (test beds) to ensure the product meets its objectives.

Perhaps another impressive feat of the UDO’s development, the company highlighted, is the speed of its turnaround. "We are able to turn around products from a sheet of paper to a sheet of steel in 30 months," Bose notes. This efficiency was achieved by utilizing 3D digital modeling early in the process, which reduced the need for physical iterations, and by collaborating with suppliers much earlier in the design phase.

Leading the Electric Charge

The launch of the UDO comes at an important junction for the Indian automotive sector. The three-wheeler category has become a frontrunner in India’s transition to green energy, with electric vehicle (EV) penetration already surpassing 35%. Mahindra, which already holds a dominant position with over 300,000 EVs on the road, views the UDO as the vehicle that will push the market toward a tipping point.

"My aspiration is that with these kinds of products... it can reach 50% electric penetration in the next two years," says Mishra.

As per Mishra, the UDO is strategically positioned to attract a new breed of customers: younger, tech-savvy first-time users who research their purchases on social media and value pride of ownership. By offering a real-world range of 200 kilometers, the highest in its segment, Mahindra is also targeting CNG users who previously suffered from range anxiety.

Mahindra Last Mile Mobility Limited (MLMML), a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., manufactures EVs like the Treo range, Zor Grand, and e-Alfa. MLMML boasts the widest portfolio of electric, petrol, CNG, and diesel last-mile mobility three- and four-wheeler passenger and cargo vehicles. Apart from EVs, the company also has the Alfa and Jeeto range of vehicles in its kitty.

Bajaj Auto and Piaggio are among other major players operating in the segment.

Way Forward

Mahindra is attempting to accelerate a market already at 35% electric penetration toward a 50% tipping point within two years. However, the success of this autoplane vision ultimately rests on whether the traditionally price-sensitive retail driver will embrace a premium shift in identity over raw, low-cost utility. Can a sketch on a napkin fundamentally change how a nation moves, or is the gap between an airplane-inspired dream and the gravity of the Indian road still too wide to bridge?

Tesla’s Test

Ketan Thakkar — Sun, 18 Jan 2026 13:58:22

For more than a decade, India has been the automotive world’s great unanswered question. A market with undeniable scale, rising household incomes, and a young, upwardly mobile consumer base, it has long teased global automakers with the promise of explosive growth. Many spoke of India in ambitious tones, but few managed to convert that optimism into meaningful success, and several retreated after painful miscalculations.

Through all of this, one company watched from the sidelines. Tesla, the world’s most influential electric-vehicle maker and a brand that has built its reputation on bending industry norms, observed India’s evolution from afar. It saw policy swings, infrastructure gaps, consumer skepticism, and the stopstart stumble of rivals. India was too big to ignore but far too complex to approach casually. That calculation has finally shifted.

Tesla’s arrival is anything but conventional. There are no splashy teasers, no lavish launch galas, and no projections of meteoric sales. Instead, the company has chosen to begin its India journey with deliberate quietude. The approach mirrors the contrarian instinct that has defined its global rise. Build the plumbing before the buzz. Prioritise infrastructure over hype. Let the everyday product experience speak for itself.

A Policy Tango, Global Pressure, and a Measured Entry

For years, Tesla’s India story unfolded more on social media than in any boardroom. Elon Musk’s periodic tweets about entering India, often accompanied by frustration over high import duties, kept excitement alive without ever providing a firm commitment.

These bursts of optimism usually coincided with conversations inside the government about creating a more accommodating EV manufacturing regime, fuelling the perception that India might tailor a policy around Tesla.

The cycle repeated so often that “Tesla is coming” became an almost seasonal headline. Meanwhile, the global backdrop was shifting rapidly. Tesla was beginning to face intense heat from BYD in China, where the local rival overtook it in quarterly EV sales. In Europe, demand softened as incentives were rolled back. Volumes plateaued in the United States and other mature EV markets.

The company that once defined hypergrowth was now operating in a world where the EV curve was bending in a different way. Yet despite noise at home and competitive heat abroad, Tesla stayed cautious on India. It resisted making premature commitments, refused to enter on unfavourable terms, and waited until commercial, regulatory, and ecosystem conditions aligned. What finally arrived was not the long-rumoured, policytriggered big bang but a measured, infrastructurefirst entry.

Tesla’s physical entry into India began almost discreetly, with a handful of experience centres and a muted rollout. There was no Elon Musk roadshow, no gigafactory reveal, and no bold targets. If Tesla followed traditional rules, India would already be flooded with investment promises, targets, and timelines. Instead, the company is focused on building an ecosystem-led foundation, in stark contrast to rivals' dealership-heavy, marketing-centric strategies.

Within months, the company opened centres in Mumbai, Delhi, and Gurgaon, each combining sales, service, delivery, and support. It launched retail, service, delivery and charging together. The goal is for an early Indian buyer to see Tesla not as a car brand but as a full-stack ownership platform.

The intent is clear. The storefront is not the centerpiece. The ecosystem is. Tesla’s strongest argument in India is arithmetic, not aspiration. A typical premium petrol car costs around Rs 20 per km to run. With maintenance, it nudges Rs 25. An EV charged at home costs Rs 1 to Rs 2 per km. Over five years, Tesla claims an owner could save Rs 15 to Rs 20 lakh, effectively reducing the real cost of a Rs 59.89-lakh Model Y to around Rs 40 lakh.

For a commuter driving 1,000 to 1,500 km a month, the math is compelling. But India’s EV narrative is not driven solely by cost. Memories of early failures, short ranges, battery degradation, outdated tech, and poor resale value shape it. Tesla attempts to counter this through software. Over-the-air updates keep the car current, a brand hallmark.

Globally, Tesla owners tend to hold vehicles longer because the product improves with age rather than declines. Building an EV business in India without solving the charging issue is impossible. Tesla knows this and is approaching the challenge differently.

Tesla is installing new V4 Superchargers capable of 250 kW and roughly 275 km of range in 15 minutes. Initially, these will be limited to Tesla vehicles. Tesla is installing them where spend time, such as malls, tech parks, hotels, and restaurants. Destination chargers on highways and hill stations aim to build confidence in weekend travel.

After-Sales Experiment

Perhaps Tesla’s boldest bet is its service model. Indian buyers typically ask, “Where is the service centre?” before asking about the price. Tesla’s answer: “You don’t need one.” Tesla vehicles have no mandatory servicing. Most fixes are delivered remotely, and the company promises mobile service availability anywhere from Ladakh to Chennai.

Warehouses and parts are already located within India, and certified infrastructure handles accident repairs. This model works brilliantly where it works. But in India, where insurance processes, repair labour markets, and body shops vary in quality, execution will be tested. Luxury buyers also tend to have high service expectations.

Pyschology over Marketing

Tesla’s biggest challenge is not BMW or Mercedes. It is India’s memory of bad EVs. Early buyers faced battery failures, laggy electronics, and crumbling resale values. Tesla knows this. The company leans heavily on onthe- ground experience, curated test drives, pop-ups, influencer walkthroughs, and a deliberate emphasis on the five-second charging handshake, which contrasts sharply with the fumbling minutes at other chargers.

Deliveries have begun. Volumes remain modest. Some early buyers are already purchasing their second Tesla, which the company cites as proof that experience outweighs price. Tesla’s India strategy mirrors its global rhythm, charging network first, desirability next, volume later.

As for self-driving, Tesla maintains that its hardware is uniform worldwide, so Indian Teslas already carry the compute and camera stack. But on India’s chaotic roads, FSD is a long-term bet, not a near-term feature. If Tesla’s India strategy succeeds, it will redefine how Indians experience cars.

If it falters, it will still build an ecosystem before building a business. In a market as unforgiving and as full of potential as India, that may be the only sustainable path.

Forvia Shifts Focus, Expands India’s Role Beyond Services

Shahkar Abidi — Sat, 17 Jan 2026 19:41:05

In the global automotive sector, where geopolitical tariffs and rapidly divergent technological paths dictate business strategy, the quest for regional resilience has become paramount. For Martin Fischer, Group Chief Executive Officer of global auto component giant Forvia, this quest has led directly to India.

Fischer, a global automotive leader with over 25 years of experience, took the CEO reins in March, quickly moving to re-evaluate the company’s decade-spanning presence in the subcontinent. What he found was a significant footprint with around 6,000 employees, split between manufacturing operations and a robust engineering base, but a return on investment that felt out of sync with India's massive growth potential.

Forvia’s involvement in India dates back to the late 1950s, through its predecessor Hella, which was one of the market’s early pioneers. However, the structure of the business had evolved primarily into an "extended workbench". Until recently, 90% of the engineering work done by the Indian teams was dedicated to supporting global programs, serving as a hub for offshoring design and administrative services.

Fischer observed that the company was not present with a full portfolio. Globally, Forvia ended 2024 with a turnover of €26.97 billion. In India, Forvia’s current annual product sales are around €400 million, or a mere 1.5%.

"When I looked at our book of business, I thought: It’s not quite representative of what the Indian market is today and what it offers also in terms of growth opportunities,'" Fischer told Autocar Professional during his recent India visit. Now, the focus is reversing the long-standing strategy, shifting India from a design service provider to a “real parts business force,” sourcing and supplying to Indian customers locally, the top executive noted.

Forvia is undertaking a major strategic push into the Indian market, setting an ambitious target to more than double its local revenue to over €1 billion (approximately Rs 10,000 crore) within the next five years. The company is growing at approximately 11% in India, which is roughly twice the market CAGR of 5–6%. This massive projected growth, up from the current product sales of over €400 million, is being fueled by a committed investment of approximately €218 million (approximately Rs 1,964 crore) focused on local manufacturing and advanced technology.

Martin Fischer, Group CEO, Forvia

Focused Investments Underpin Growth

Forvia Hella is targeting growth of over 25% in India across all its business groups — Electronics, Lighting, and Lifecycle Solutions — over the next five years. To support this ambition, the company is driving significant localization, with planned investments of more than Rs 1,000 crore (approx) in Electronics and Lighting by 2030.

The largest allocation targets the rapidly growing Forvia Hella Electronics segment, which currently generates just over €100 million in turnover and is targeted to grow four times over the next five years, aiming for more than €400 million. To support this rapid expansion, the company will allocate approximately Rs 800 crore toward installing new capacities.

"So that will go in the direction of around Rs 800 crores we put in electronics," remarked the top executive on his first visit to India after taking over the new job. Secondly, in the seating business, the company plans to launch a new facility dedicated to manufacturing complete seats. The goal is to grow this segment five times in five years, pushing revenue past €150 million from the current base of approximately €30 million.

Likewise, clean mobility (exhaust systems), which is already a leading segment for the company in India, will also see enforcement, including the construction of a new plant in the northern region to be closer to customers. The plan is to double the turnover from its current €100 million plus to over €200 million. Furthermore, Forvia is investing in a modern lighting plant specifically for passenger cars, which will offer a complete range of solutions sourced from India. Additionally, they are extending a plant for specialized lighting applications, including those for trucks, farm machinery, and aftermarket solutions.

Frugal Engineering and Empowerment

Driving this dramatic growth requires a fundamental shift in operational philosophy. Fischer, an engineer by training, is implementing a cultural and organizational rehaul, embracing decentralization. "I believe a lot in local for local and empowering the teams in the world to do what’s right for the market," Fischer stated.

This regionalized structure is seen as crucial for navigating the "VUCA world", a climate characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity that features decoupling, tariffs, and differing technological adoption speeds across Asia, Europe, and North America. Fischer believes this regional focus strengthens the supply chain against global risks like natural disasters and tariffs.

On the engineering front, the transition means the Indian teams are leading the charge in "frugal engineering", a targeted affordability-based solution mindset. Furthermore, Forvia is aggressively pursuing efficiency through technological integration, driving efficiency through the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Examples include managing supplier contracts, and using Generative AI for mechanical design proposals, dramatically shortening the design loop before human verification.

The China Speed Challenge

The largest structural challenge for European automotive component arms like Forvia in India is the market composition. The landscape is heavily dominated by Japanese, Korean, and local Indian brands. Breaking into these established customer bases, which have their own long-term supplier relationships, is a "big stranglehold," according to industry observers.

Forvia leveraged a strategic advantage gained years ago through the acquisition of Clarion Electronics. Clarion, with its traditional audio brand and infotainment offerings in Japan, provided a crucial foothold to Japanese customers, which has successfully bridged into the domestic Indian market. Globally, Fischer must also contend with the disruptive concept of "China speed," where product life cycles have shrunk drastically.

China dictates rapid innovation and development times, with processes like headlamp development being completed in nine months, compared to two years elsewhere. Fischer is adopting key lessons from Forvia’s significant Chinese operation (which accounts for over 20% of global sales). The Chinese team is highly empowered to make quick local decisions and deeply localize the supply chain.

While replicating work habits like 24-hour R&D operations is difficult in other regions, Forvia is copying processes to shorten validation and testing times globally. This experience is directly relevant to India, as local Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), such as Tata Motors and Mahindra executives, are actively benchmarking China's efficiency and agility.

Forvia’s deep presence in China allows the company to act as a crucial link, leveraging that expertise to guide Indian OEMs. Furthermore, as powerful Chinese OEMs (like BYD) expand globally, including setting up bases in India, Forvia is positioned to follow them, offering local infrastructure and capacity in their new geographies.

On a parting note, the top exective maintains strong confidence in the ability of the newly empowered Indian unit to meet, and potentially exceed, these ambitious goals. "I could almost place a bet that when we go through that empowerment way, and say we let loose the Indian team, we are going to exceed the expectations," Fischer said, underscoring the shift from conservative planning to aggressive, localized execution.

ZF’s Construction Equipment Strategy Reveals How India Has Moved Beyond the Auto Market

Shahkar Abidi — Wed, 07 Jan 2026 18:37:39

When a German engineering giant bets €20 million (approximately Rs 192 crore) on a factory in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, the location matters less than the message. ZF Group's new transmission and axle plant, opened this June, signaled something strategic is at work. One of the world's largest automotive suppliers now believes India's growth in coming years may see an accelerated growth in the construction equipment industry, even as the automotive sector in general moves at a slower pace or remains static.

The timing is awkward for the broader automotive industry. Indian vehicle sales have flatlined in recent years, vehicle makers are cautious, and global automakers are retreating. Yet ZF's leadership sees the construction equipment sector as an anomaly, a segment that, despite its current sluggishness, will double in size over the next five years while the rest of the motor industry moves at a slower pace.

Akash Passey, President of ZF Group India & Head of Region India, remarked, "So that 100% plus growth is going to come in this industry." He spoke on the sidelines of Excon 2025, South Asia's largest event on the construction equipment industry, which was held recently in Bengaluru. "From that point of view, this is a very good time to be here in India." Passey continued.

This sentiment, spoken at an industry gathering, reflects a broader reorientation. ZF is not abandoning automotive, far from it. But the company is hedging its bets by doubling down on segments where growth is plausible.

ZF competes with the likes of Bosch, Schaeffler Group, Dana, and others in the construction equipment component space in India.

A Sector Defying Gravity

India's construction equipment industry is enjoying a strong run, powered by sustained public investment in highways, rail, and urban infrastructure. Between the pandemic trough of 2020 and FY24, equipment sales recovered and then grew briskly, helped by government projects and an urban construction boom, even as parts of the automotive market struggled with chip shortages, changing consumer preferences, and tighter financing. India’s construction equipment market is already worth an estimated USD 7–8.5 billion a year, and ICEMA’s vision document envisages it roughly tripling to around USD 25 billion by 2030, potentially making the country the world’s second‑largest CE market.

By contrast, passenger‑vehicle volumes have reached record highs of about 4–4.3 million units, but growth is concentrated in SUVs and higher‑priced models while small cars stagnate, dulling earlier dreams of a low‑cost export hub. Commercial vehicles, meanwhile, face a bumpier cycle driven by freight demand, interest rates, and fleet consolidation, with electrification still at an early stage and not yet the main brake on diesel truck sales.

What's in the CE Box?

ZF, which is best known for its driveline technology, is bundling brains and brawn in its latest pitch to construction-equipment makers.

Under mounting pressure to trim fuel costs and ease operator strain, the company has packaged its ERGOPOWER transmissions with MULTITRAC axles, a pairing aimed at loaders and backhoes that spend long hours in punishing site conditions, Alexander Elsner, Head of Product Communication, Off-Highway Systems, explained.

The ERGOPOWER transmission, available in four- or five-speed versions with an optional DirectDrive setup, promises efficiency as well as endurance. ZF claims the design can cut fuel consumption by up to 15% while improving productivity by as much as 40%. It shifts gears with barely a hiccup in power delivery, reducing the strain on both the machine and its operator. Less effort at the controls, ZF argues, also means less wear across the vehicle’s working life.

The MULTITRAC rigid axles are built to handle the heavy lifting. Fitted with wet multi-disc brakes that stay cooler than traditional systems, they shed less energy as heat and demand less maintenance. Their compact, lighter build leaves more ground clearance, an advantage on uneven terrain where every centimeter counts.

Backhoe loaders, which juggle digging and hauling duties, stand to benefit from the combined transmission-and-axle setup. The system is designed to withstand the torque spikes and constant gear changes of round-the-clock operation. ZF markets the pairing as a tough yet serviceable solution for machines that can’t afford downtime.

Even mixer trucks get attention in this tidy portfolio. ZF’s ECOMIX I hydrostatic drum drive transfers power through a compact geartrain that the company says delivers reliability with minimal maintenance. In concrete delivery, where timing and consistency are everything, dependable hardware can mean the difference between a smooth pour and a costly delay.

Meanwhile, ZF is pushing into the digital frontier with brake-by-wire technology. By replacing hydraulic lines with electronic control, the system lets software—not mechanical linkages govern braking pressure. Beyond simplifying maintenance, such smart braking could lay the groundwork for remotely operated or autonomous construction machines, an idea that is slowly mixing into the industry’s future plans.

Building Infrastructure for present and future

ZF’s new Coimbatore plant right now has only one or two lines in operation, but the layout tells a bigger story. The site has been designed with room to add new lines and effectively double its capacity when the time is right. That built-in flexibility follows ZF’s familiar playbook: enter early in markets with long-term promise, then expand step by step as local demand and export orders pick up.

The plant’s location inside a Special Economic Zone (SEZ) adds an important advantage. It makes exporting easier and avoids tariff complications, a critical factor in keeping costs competitive. It’s a strategy that’s worked before. ZF’s wind-power gearbox business, also based in Tamil Nadu, once shipped around 85% of its output overseas. Only recently, as India’s renewable-energy market expanded, did domestic demand start to catch up. The Coimbatore facility is likely to follow the same journey , starting out as an export-driven operation and gradually growing into a strong regional manufacturing base.

“The facility is heavily exporting from there,” ZF executives confirmed. For Indian construction equipment makers such as JCB, Caterpillar India, and Komatsu, having a dependable local component supplier like ZF carries strategic weight.

"By harnessing India's potential, we aim to drive innovation and economic progress, ensuring that our products not only meet the needs of the Indian market but also set benchmarks worldwide." Passey added.

The bigger picture

ZF’s ongoing reorganization around India deserves an important mention. About four or five years ago, the company took a major step by elevating India to “region” status, putting it on par with Europe, North America, China, and the Middle East-Africa division. It might sound like corporate housekeeping, but the change is far from cosmetic. The head of ZF India now reports directly to the company’s global board, giving the Indian business a seat at the top table, a privilege usually reserved for the world’s most mature markets.

ZF Group maintains a strong presence in India, producing high-end technology products locally for a wide range of vehicle applications, from active and passive safety systems, steering systems, clutch systems, axle systems, and chassis and suspension components for commercial vehicles to steering systems, transmissions, and chassis systems for trucks, plus steering systems, transmissions, and axles for off-highway uses. The company also supplies gearboxes for the wind turbine industry, alongside powertrains, chassis components, and safety devices tailored for the light vehicle sector.

In India ZF operates through 14 entities, including one joint venture and 10 global engineering centers. ZF Group in India has its corporate office in Pune. With a strong presence across the country, ZF Group in India has steadily grown its manufacturing footprint to 18 locations. The ZF Aftermarket division provides a wide range of spare parts for product brands SACHS, LEMFÖRDER, TRW, and WABCO with strong service support. ZF in India employs more than 15,400 people across India, including its JV partners.

Globally, ZF Group operates 161 production locations across 30 countries and employs approximately 161,600 people worldwide. The company reported sales of €41.4 billion in fiscal 2024. The Industrial Technology division encompasses ZF's activities for off-road applications, including agricultural and construction machinery, forklifts, special vehicles, rail systems, marine propulsion technology, and wind power technology.

Autocar Professional Person of the Year 2025: Sudarshan Venu

Autocar Professional Bureau — Tue, 30 Dec 2025 14:02:39

The global two-wheeler industry is undergoing a rare shake-up. TVS Motor has overtaken Yamaha and now ranks among the world’s top three two-wheeler makers by volume. Besides becoming the second Indian brand after Hero MotoCorp to break into the top three, the Chennai-based automaker has claimed the top spot in India’s electric two-wheeler market.

It also surpassed Hero MotoCorp in revenues in the first half of the ongoing financial year. TVS’ rise is the result of years of steady market-share gains under the leadership of its 36-year-old chairman and managing director—and Autocar Professional’s 2025 Person of the Year—Sudarshan Venu.

People who work with Sudarshan describe him as a man not easily categorised. He insists on structure and a clear emphasis on process, yet shows a willingness to test ideas that would once have been parked indefinitely. That tension between order and exploration mirrors where TVS itself sits today.

Under his leadership, the company has seemingly achieved the impossible: moving up steadily on the value curve while snapping up incremental market share points every year to fuel a growth engine that appears unstoppable in its momentum. TVS is no longer a volume-focused manufacturer but one of the industry’s most structurally robust players.

With Sudarshan at the helm, TVS has emerged as the big winner in the Indian two-wheeler market, mercilessly wresting away shares from much larger players such as Honda and Hero—adding nearly 1.8 percentage points in 2025 alone in one of the world’s most competitive markets. Over three years, it has added almost four percentage points to its overall share. No other player has come close.

More importantly, TVS has been gaining ground in the fastest-growing and most lucrative segments. In the four years to March 31, 2025, its share in scooters has risen from 15% to 25%, and in the electric two-wheeler market, it has surged from 2% to 23%. In entry-premium motorcycles, it now controls 27%.

Add to this a formidable export footprint. TVS has emerged as the second-largest Indian two-wheeler brand outside India, behind only Bajaj, generating nearly a quarter of its revenue from international markets. But unlike Bajaj, TVS has achieved this without ceding ground domestically.

The financial performance reflects this momentum: 21% average annual revenue growth between FY2021 and FY2025, coupled with 33% average annual growth in operating profits.

Industry observers credit TVS with having moved beyond competing aggressively for market share to setting the terms of engagement, quietly compelling rivals to take notice. Sanjay Tripathi, a two-wheeler industry veteran and automotive consultant, notes the shift in perception: “TVS has always known how to build good bikes. What’s changed is that they are now building the right bikes for the right customers.”

No Silver Bullet

It is difficult to pinpoint a single element in Sudarshan’s strategy that fuels this success. There is no singular winning product or cycle. Growth has come from multiple contributors – scooters, premium motorcycles, EVs and exports.

Sudarshan’s own language reveals this temperament: he speaks less about disruption and more about capabilities, values and the discipline of staying invested through cycles. Those who have worked with him say he has insisted on doing things the hard way when shortcuts were available—longer discussions upfront, cleaner decisions later, and relentless follow-through on execution.

His youth has also been an asset. As the reins shifted from his father, Venu Srinivasan, a new version of TVS emerged: one comfortable hiring world-class talent, partnering with global technology specialists and embracing multi-powertrain futures without ideological resistance.

Another hallmark of his leadership has been realism. The company has not sought to dominate every segment. Instead, it sidestepped areas where competition was too entrenched—avoiding Hero’s stronghold in commuters, steering clear of Royal Enfield’s 350cc-plus empire and declining to outmuscle Bajaj in three-wheelers. TVS picked open lanes and built capability until they stopped being open.

Yet Sudarshan has not been all about safe bets or steady incrementalism. Among the company’s boldest moves is the acquisition of vintage British brand Norton—a strategic signal that TVS is no longer content being a mid-market player and that it wants a seat at the global premium table, a space long dominated by European and Japanese brands. TVS is also launching a separate premium distribution channel, where it can cater to more affluent customers.

The importance of the Norton acquisition lies not just in volume potential. It represents capability uplift: engineering processes, quality systems and brand discipline that tend to elevate the entire group. The acquisition of Italian engineering consultancy Engines Engineering further strengthens this R&D muscle, with the experienced team working collaboratively with TVS engineers.

No other Indian two-wheeler manufacturer is attempting something this global, this premium, this brand-sensitive. That is why the moment of overtaking Yamaha matters. It is not merely about passing a number—it announces a new category of ambition.

A Blueprint for Indian Ambition

Sudarshan Venu’s leadership style may be understated and his strategy measured, but the results speak clearly. He has exhibited a rare combination of traits: discipline in choosing battles, knowing when to compete and when to step aside; ambition in picking global bets, as evidenced by the Norton acquisition; humility in learning from world-class talent brought in from across the industry; patience in building premium and EV capabilities over years rather than quarters; and an unwavering belief in engineering excellence as the foundation of lasting success.

Under his stewardship, TVS Motor has not merely grown—it has evolved into the most compelling two-wheeler story to emerge from India in recent times. His leadership offers a blueprint for Indian manufacturing ambition built not on spectacle but on substance.

It is for these reasons that Autocar Professional recognises Sudarshan Venu as its Person of the Year for 2025.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

INTERVIEW

‘We must stay true to the values my father built the company on, and adapt them to today’s context.’

Sudarshan, congratulations on being the youngest-ever automotive Person of the Year. What does this award mean to you?

Thank you, I really appreciate it. I think it’s really a recognition of the entire TVS organisation, which I am fortunate to lead. Everyone has rallied together to strengthen our growth based on our core values, and we continue to take it ahead.

Let’s start with EVs, the segment where TVS is now among the leaders. How has this journey shaped up?

EVs are a very important area of investment we have committed to over the last few years. We have launched new products that have been very well received, and we continue to grow. EVs have grown quickly, accounting for about 7% of the market, and I think there’s still a long runway ahead as penetration increases. We must develop our technology in-house, and I think, for India, the world’s largest two-wheeler market, we must create a local, resilient supply chain to sustain this momentum.

Supply chain localisation has been challenging, especially with rare-earth magnets. How do you see this playing out?

There is a big opportunity for EVs in India – the products we look towards for the next 5 to 10 years. Penetration will increase, more products will be launched, [and so will] more segments, more categories. There’s a definite opportunity.

At the same time, I still think internal combustion engine (ICE) segments will continue to grow, particularly on the premium side, and we are launching exciting products there as well.

Given India’s large economy and the geopolitical conditions on magnets, I think it’s important that we further strengthen the local supply chain. The government has taken many steps to incentivise production, technology and the entire EV ecosystem, and now we have to build on it.

On the ICE side, you’ve explored CNG and ethanol. How do these alternatives fit into TVS’ plans?

Definitely, CNG is there in three-wheelers, and there are some CNG two-wheelers also now. We have also shown Jupiter CNG. I think biofuels, such as ethanol, have also done very well in Brazil, and we have an ethanol three-wheeler, an ethanol Apache, and some more ethanol vehicles in the works. These are options for the future that we are investing in. Some countries may do more of one, and therefore, we believe that all of these are very important for a sustainable future economy.

TVS operates from mopeds all the way up to 1,200cc superbikes. How do you avoid spreading yourself too thin?

We have strengthened the teams in each of the segments so that each segment has its own unique focus: the India business, the commuter segment, the premium business, the super-premium segment, the commercial business and the international business. That is at the front end. On the back end, we have strengthened the teams to build capabilities and maintain a sharp focus on each segment.

For Norton, we offer all the resources, support and capabilities from TVS. At the same time, it has people who are very experienced in making big bikes, in understanding and delivering on the DNA of Norton, in marketing and retailing, and in building the brand in its own unique way.

Norton sits at the pinnacle of your technology stack. How will its learnings flow down to mainstream TVS products?

Hopefully, [it will be] at the pinnacle of technology for the entire world. We are trying to build globally competitive bikes with class-leading performance figures. All vehicles are true to Norton’s values of design, dynamism and detail.

The Manx stands for the fastest road bike, and that’s what we are recreating. Atlas is a bike with very good off-road capabilities and on-road capabilities – a great all-rounder. These platforms have been created specifically for Norton, but they also offer our team an excellent opportunity to work with experts from other countries. Some of the technology, knowledge and ideas will come to other vehicles.

You’ve also strengthened R&D with the acquisition of Engines Engineering. Why was this a priority?

That is another major area where we are strengthening the team further. Engines Engineering already has a very talented and experienced in-house team for two-wheelers, and they work collaboratively with our team.

TVS has always been strong in engineering but conservative in branding. With the emergence of Gen Z customers, does the brand need to evolve?

We are definitely focused on quality, technology and innovation. For Gen Z, we are launching cooler designs, more software, and also communicating the brand in a differentiated way through apps.

We will offer a sophisticated retail experience dedicated to premium vehicles, both offline and digitally. Millennials have different aspirations, and our teams and designers are passionate about adapting to and catering to them in an exciting, aspirational way.

What has your father’s mentorship meant to you?

Tremendous, really. TVS is what it is because of him, his values, his focus on quality and the customer, his passion for products and technology, and his commitment to maintaining trust. I’m fortunate to have learnt from him and continue to have his guidance, counsel and ideas to do better.

What does TVS look like in 2030 in your mind?

TVS must remain true to its values and continuously delight the customer. We are trying to bring greater speed and agility, strengthen talent, groom in-house talent for the future and become more global.

We are looking at more exciting and premium products, strengthening brand experience and entering new markets. We want a truly global talent pool and a global product range. That is what we are excited to do.

A Look Back at the Major Policy Developments of 2025

Kiran Murali — Wed, 24 Dec 2025 17:50:51

The year 2025 has unfolded as an action-packed phase for India’s automotive sector, with policy announcements arriving in rapid succession and reshaping the industry’s near-term outlook. As the country accelerates its push for localisation and competes head-to-head with global benchmarks in technology, cost and efficiency amid global supply chain disruptions and geopolitical uncertainties, incentives and regulatory clarity are shaping both investment decisions and product strategies.

It began with a reform-heavy Union Budget that offered income-tax relief to consumers and cut duties on several battery components, giving a push to electrification. Midway through the year, the government unveiled the draft of the next-generation CAFE 3 norms, signalling a sharper turn toward efficiency and cleaner technologies.

While flagship incentive programmes such as PM E-Drive and PLI Auto continue to anchor the industry’s transition, the latest addition this year — a ₹7,280-crore incentive scheme for rare-earth magnets — signals the government’s intent to secure a critical link in the EV and electronics value chain. The most consequential move was made towards the end of the year: GST 2.0 — one of the biggest demand catalysts in recent years — which slashed tax rates on vehicles.

Budget

The year began with a sweeping round of tax relief for the middle class in the Union Budget 2025-26 set the tone for the automobile-related announcements earlier in the year. By exempting individuals earning up to ₹12 lakh annually—₹12.75 lakh for salaried taxpayers after standard deduction—from income tax under the new regime, the budget looked at boosting disposable income in the hands of consumers. Financial experts then estimated that roughly ₹1 lakh crore will flow back to households through these measures, translating into individual savings of up to ₹80,000.

Industry watchers said this boost in purchasing power should help budget-friendly cars and two-wheeler purchases, which had been struggling due to rising ownership costs.

Alongside the consumption push, the budget had announcements for lithium-ion battery and EV component makers. In a bid to boost domestic production of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, the government fully exempted basic customs duty on 35 additional capital goods used in their manufacturing. The customs duty has also been removed on waste and scrap of lithium-ion batteries, cobalt powder, lead, zinc, and several other critical minerals—including cobalt and copper—previously taxed between 2.5% and 10%.

Meanwhile, the Budget also reduced the duty on motorcycle imports across categories: for sub-1600cc models, CBU duty dropped from 50% to 40%, SKD from 25% to 20%, and CKD from 15% to 10%. Larger motorcycles see even steeper cuts, bringing CBU duty down to 30%. This lowered the prices of premium bikes at a time when larger performance and luxury bikes are gaining traction.

Incentive Schemes

Among the most high-profile announcements was the Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars in India (SPMEPCI), introduced with considerable anticipation and widely viewed as a potential pathway to attracting global EV majors, including Tesla.

This scheme offers the option to import a limited number of CBUs at a sharply reduced duty rate in exchange for firm commitments to invest and begin manufacturing in India. Yet, the programme has found no takers. With the application window closing in October without a single OEM applying, industry observers point to concurrent free trade agreement negotiations with Europe and the US as a key factor behind the muted response.

A similar slowdown has clouded the PLI ACC scheme, launched in 2021 with a ₹18,100-crore outlay to build 50 GWh of advanced battery capacity by December 2024. Progress has been far off target — only 1.4 GWh was in place by June this year. The government has reportedly issued notices to all three beneficiaries for failing to meet mandated timelines, seeking penalties for non-compliance.

India-UK FTA

India and the UK’s Free Trade Agreement signed in July is set to boost India's automotive sector, opening up fresh avenues for exports, investment, and technology collaboration. With tariff barriers set to ease and supply chain integration expected to deepen, the Indian automotive sector is gearing up to tap into the UK market.

The deal centred on gradually opening India’s tightly protected import regime while offering new export opportunities for Indian EV makers. For internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, the agreement lays out a detailed, phased tariff-reduction roadmap. India’s import duties—ranging from 66% to 110% depending on engine size—will be gradually reduced to as low as 10% over a period of five years once the FTA is effective.

The treatment of alternative-fuel vehicles is far more protective. The UK will eliminate import duties on Indian EVs from year six, opening a new export channel for Indian manufacturers. Taken together, the agreement brings carefully moderated market access, significant long-term tariff reductions, and a reciprocal boost for India’s EV exports—setting the stage for a more competitive but still protected transition in the automotive trade between the two countries.

CAFE 3 Draft

Among the most consequential regulatory developments this year is the revised draft of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE 3) norms—rules that reshape how automakers plan their future product mix. Unlike per-model limits, CAFE norms measure the sales-weighted average CO₂ emissions across a manufacturer’s entire fleet, pushing companies to balance higher-emitting vehicles with more efficient or zero-emission options. The revised proposal tightens these fleet-wide requirements further from April 2027 but also introduces targeted relief and new compliance tools that could shift industry strategy.

For India’s cost-sensitive small-car segment, the draft offers a crucial breather. Petrol vehicles under 4 metres, with engines up to 1,200 cc and weighing up to 909 kg, can claim an additional 3 g CO₂/km reduction in their declared performance—capped at 9 g/km per model each year.

The draft acknowledges the limited scope for further efficiency improvements in such compact petrol vehicles. Yet industry executives caution that despite this relaxation, the overall regime is still tightening sharply. Emission limits are estimated to begin at 88.4 g CO₂/km in 2027-28 and then fall progressively, making annual compliance and product planning more challenging than before.

The draft also lays out a powerful push for cleaner technologies, with range-extender hybrids (REEs) emerging as a key beneficiary. These vehicles run primarily on battery power, with a small engine that activates only to recharge the battery—or, in some designs, assist in driving the wheels.

Under the credit system, both battery electric vehicles and REEs will count as three vehicles in fleet-average calculations. This multiplier strengthens the case for range-extender hybrids as a practical bridge technology for manufacturers looking to offset emissions from larger or more popular ICE models.

A second major structural shift is the introduction of emissions pooling. Up to three OEMs can now form a compliance pool, whose combined sales and emissions will be treated as a single fleet.

This mechanism opens the door to strategic alliances—allowing companies with complementary line-ups to balance their averages, share compliance burdens and reduce potential penalties. With tighter limits ahead and annual adjustments becoming the norm, pooling could become a critical tool for manufacturers navigating the demanding CAFE 3 landscape.

ABS for 2Ws

In a major regulatory change for two-wheelers, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has introduced one of the most significant safety updates in recent times. A new draft notification proposes mandatory Anti-lock Braking Systems (ABS) for all two-wheelers manufactured from January 1, 2026, alongside a requirement for OEMs to supply two helmets with every new vehicle sold.

The move marks a major shift for lower-capacity scooters and motorcycles, which currently rely on Combined Braking Systems (CBS). ABS, a system that prevents wheel lock during sudden or hard braking, helps riders maintain control—particularly on slippery or uneven surfaces. While this technology has been compulsory for models above 125 cc, extending it to all L2-category two-wheelers signals the government’s intent to standardise a higher level of road safety across the board.

According to the draft, “vehicles of category L2 manufactured on and after January 1, 2026, shall be fitted with Anti-lock Braking System conforming to the IS14664:2010,” covering the entire mass-market spectrum. For consumers, the changes go beyond braking technology. The notification also requires manufacturers to provide two BIS-certified helmets at the time of purchase, instead of the single helmet currently mandated. This measure recognises the reality of Indian roads, where a pillion rider is present as often as the driver and equally vulnerable in the event of a crash.

However, these safety interventions come with cost implications. Adding ABS hardware and two certified helmets is expected to increase the price of entry-level two-wheelers—a segment that has already been struggling to recover. Manufacturers will have to balance the regulatory mandate with consumer sensitivity to price hikes, especially in the budget commuter market.

Ethanol Blending

The government rolled out the 20% ethanol blending mandate during the year, setting off some concerns among consumers, especially owners of older vehicles who worry about mileage drops, engine wear and the possibility that damage from higher ethanol blends may not be covered under warranty.

The government has attempted to calm these fears, stating that claims of a “drastic” mileage drop are misplaced and that any reduction for older vehicles has been marginal. Tests by ARAI, IIP and Indian Oil, it says, show no abnormal wear-and-tear, while routine servicing can address minor issues such as gasket or rubber part replacement. SIAM has also stepped in to assure that manufacturers will honour warranties for older vehicles using E20, regardless of manual specifications.

After crossing the 20% ethanol-blending milestone, automakers and sugar manufacturers are now urging the government to prioritise flex-fuel vehicles - which can run on higher blends and 100% ethanol—instead of incrementally moving to 25% or 30% blends. They want lower taxes on these vehicles and a clear pricing advantage for ethanol over petrol. With surplus ethanol capacity and flex-fuel hybrids delivering lower well-to-wheel emissions, industry players argue that this shift offers India a practical route to reducing both its oil import bill and carbon footprint.

GST 2.0

The biggest development of the year, without a doubt, was the decision to overhaul GST rules for the automobile sector—cutting tax rates across cars, two-wheelers and a host of related vehicles and components. Under the revised policy announced in September 2025 by the Goods and Services Tax Council, GST on small cars has been slashed from 28% to 18%. This reduction covers cars with petrol engines under 1,200 cc and length under 4 metres, and diesel cars under 1,500 cc and under 4 metres — bringing down the cost of entry-level four-wheelers for first-time buyers and middle-class households.

For larger cars and SUVs, the earlier cess-based rates have been replaced by a flat GST rate of 40%, while the removal of the cess makes pricing simpler and more predictable. Turning to two-wheelers, the GST rate for bikes up to 350 cc has also been reduced, falling from 28% to 18%. This cut has made scooters and entry-level motorcycles more affordable, boosting demand especially in semi-urban and rural areas.

The tax rationalization has to stimulate demand across the automotive ecosystem — benefiting manufacturers, component suppliers and dealers alike — while making mobility more accessible for millions of Indians. The short term was evident in the peak festival season sales, where all the segments hit record sales this year.

Takshi Auto Targets ₹1,000-Crore Turnover by 2030, Eyes M&As, Defence JV

Autocar Professional Bureau — Tue, 23 Dec 2025 11:00:23

In 2003, an engineer who had cut his teeth at Tata Motors decided to bet on one of the least glamorous but most indispensable parts of a vehicle–the axle. Two decades later, Takshi Auto Components Pvt Ltd has turned that bet into a thriving business supplying axle housings and assemblies to some of India’s best-known automakers. Now, the company is preparing for its next leap.

Founder and Managing Director Amol Patel says Takshi Auto, which currently clocks around ₹550 crore in annual turnover, is targeting ₹1,000 crore by 2030. Patel expects this growth to be fuelled by rising domestic demand, a new defence-axle joint venture with a European partner, an EV-focused last-mile mobility strategy, and strategic acquisitions to expand into new product lines.

Takshi Auto is now gearing up to enter the defence-axle manufacturing segment–a new but strategic frontier for the company. “We are going into larger axles for the defence segment. For this, we are finalising a technology joint venture with an Italian design house already active in this space. Discussions are progressing well, and we expect to conclude them by the end of 2025,” Patel said.

He added that India’s defence vehicle manufacturing ecosystem has opened to private participation, creating opportunities for technology-driven partnerships. “Earlier, most of the work used to be done by defence vehicle factories. Now, with privatisation, companies will prefer strong, technology-backed partners,” he said.

India’s defence vehicle axle manufacturing base today includes specialised players such as Automotive Axles Ltd. (a Meritor–Kalyani Group joint venture), Bharat Forge Ltd., and Talbros Engineering Ltd. These firms supply heavy-duty axles, shafts, and driveline components for high-torque, all-terrain vehicles used by the armed forces.

Encouraged by the government’s Make in India and Atmanirbhar Bharat initiatives, domestic component makers are increasingly localising systems once imported–a shift Takshi aims to capitalise on by offering indigenous, design-driven axle systems for defence mobility platforms.

Core Strengths

While defence will be a new vertical, Patel insists the company’s core focus remains on SUVs and sub-six-ton vehicles, where Takshi already supplies to leading OEMs such as Mahindra & Mahindra, Ashok Leyland, Volvo Eicher, Dana, ZF Group, Automotive Axles, American Axle & Manufacturing, Meritor, and TAFE Motors and Tractors.

Mahindra & Mahindra remains Takshi’s anchor customer, contributing roughly 65% of its business. The company is a single-source supplier for about 80% of the components it provides to Mahindra–a relationship built on long-term trust and consistent quality.

Still, Patel acknowledges the importance of diversification. “To avoid concentration risk, we’re expanding our customer base without losing focus,” he said. The company is in talks with MG Motor India for front and rear axles and recently added Tata Motors back to its client list.

Takshi is also sharpening its focus on axles for last-mile electric mobility, a segment expected to grow rapidly with India’s electrification drive. “Last-mile mobility is going to be our core focus. We will collaborate with experts in those areas,” Patel said.

The company already partners with global motor suppliers such as Nidec and SEG Automotive. “Most Mahindra vehicles are equipped with our axle and SEG motor. Eicher Volvo uses our housing, which is compatible with the Nidec motor,” he explained.

To strengthen its EV technology base, Takshi is exploring partnerships in motors, controllers, and system integration–a strategy designed to position it as a comprehensive solutions provider for OEMs developing electric pickups, light commercial vehicles, and city logistics platforms.

Expansion Plans

While organic growth and product extensions will continue, Takshi is now actively pursuing inorganic expansion through acquisitions. “We will be going ahead with some acquisitions of new product lines. We intend to acquire a ₹300-400 crore company,” Patel said.

The company is working with two consultants to identify the right target. “The acquisition should bring in a new product, new customers, and add to our topline. If it doesn’t meet these goals, we won’t pursue it,” he added.

The acquisition is expected to be funded through internal accruals and debt, with a total potential outlay of around ₹600 crore. Takshi remains largely debt-free, giving it flexibility to raise funds when required. “We have multiple options–long-term loans from our banking partners or private equity if needed–but we prefer not to dilute equity,” Patel said.

Takshi Auto’s manufacturing footprint has grown steadily with demand. The company’s first axle-housing line, commissioned in 2011, produced just 6,000 units. Today, the main plant manufactures 34,000 units per month, while the newly commissioned Shirwal facility adds another 30,000 units per month, taking total installed capacity to 64,000 units.

Patel believes this scale places Takshi among Asia’s largest axle-housing manufacturers in its weight class. The company now operates six facilities–four in Pune, one in Shirwal, and one in Haridwar–equipped with precision welding, machining, forming, surface treatment, and testing infrastructure.

“We have invested around ₹100 crore to enhance axle-housing manufacturing capacity at our Shirwal facility. Almost 60% of that capacity is already booked,” said Patel.

The expanded capacity gives Takshi both visibility and urgency. Visibility from a healthy order book, and urgency to leverage this momentum to broaden its customer base while staying true to its core engineering strengths.

Currently, the component maker manufactures e-axles and powertrains, axle housings, independent front suspension systems, axle-tube assemblies, differential cases, rigid and off-highway axles, and a range of sheet-metal and tubular components.

India’s axle and drivetrain component market is dominated by large domestic and multinational players such as American Axle & Manufacturing, Dana, ZF Group, Automotive Axles, and Meritor. These firms mainly serve commercial-vehicle OEMs and export markets, leaving space for specialised mid-segment manufacturers like Takshi Auto to carve out a niche in SUVs, pickups, and sub-6-ton vehicles.

Exports

Exports currently account for a small portion of Takshi’s revenues, but Patel sees significant scope post-COVID as supply chains diversify. “Axles are heavy components and were not traditionally exported, but we are now receiving inquiries for axle housings and EV axles from Indonesia, Egypt, and Sri Lanka,” he said.

The company has also developed an electric powertrain for golf carts, to be supplied to European customers, with additional inquiries from the United States. “We are also working with European automaker Stellantis on similar opportunities,” Patel said. Patel outlined two clear business trajectories for Takshi Auto’s next phase. “By 2030, we will be ₹1,000 crore-plus without acquisition and ₹1,500 crore-plus with acquisition.”

The company’s near-term priorities are completing the defence-technology joint venture, expanding EV-axle production for last-mile mobility, and closing its first major acquisition. Together, these moves are designed to de-risk the business, expand its customer mix, and align Takshi with India’s broader push for localisation and advanced manufacturing.

Patel, a first-generation entrepreneur, sums up the company’s philosophy simply: “I don’t look at competitors. Every day I try to compete with myself–to do better than yesterday and offer better value to the customer. If we keep doing that, our customers will keep us in business.

Tenneco Clean Air India’s Turnaround Journey Towards IPO

Shahkar Abidi — Fri, 07 Nov 2025 20:40:32

The transformation began quietly in 2022, far from the glare of public markets. When Apollo Global Management acquired Tenneco Inc. for $7.1 billion in November that year, pulling in the struggling American automotive supplier, few anticipated the sweeping changes that would ripple through to its Indian operations. What followed was not merely a financial restructuring but a fundamental reimagining of how the company would compete in one of the world’s fastest-growing automotive markets.

Today, Tenneco Clean Air India Ltd stands poised for its market debut, having increased its initial public offering to ₹3,600 crore from an earlier ₹3,000 crore, aiming for a valuation of over ₹16,000 crore at the upper end. The offering is entirely an offer-for-sale by promoter Tenneco Mauritius Holdings, which means that the company will not receive any proceeds from the IPO.

The mandate during the turnaround was clear: transformation. Under the subsequent leadership of CEO Jim Voss, the company embarked on a complete overhaul that blended structural and cultural reorganization. This mandate extended to a comprehensive transformation of the entire Profit & Loss (P&L) statement, encompassing cost elements like raw material cost, conversion cost, fixed costs, indirect material, automation, and labor cost.

A critical structural shift took place in the Indian operation too — a move from vertically separated business units (BUs) to a unified regional structure, in addition to other measures. This organizational change immediately yielded financial opportunities by facilitating cross-selling and allowing the company to leverage relationships with one product and one customer to sell another product to the same customer. This cross-selling efficiency is expected to drive top-line growth and offset the impact of year-over-year price reductions often negotiated by customers. Internally, the new framework includes specialized mechanisms like the Office of Strategic Execution (OSE), a dedicated team responsible for driving rapid change by targeting reductions in the cost of goods sold and enabling revenue growth through volume targets and pricing strategy.

“Tenneco has always been a great technology company. But what has happened in the last two to three years is that the company has transformed not only as a technology company but also into a company of operational excellence,” said Rishi Verma, President (India), Tenneco Clean Air India Ltd, while reflecting on his 18-year journey with the company. He spoke during a pre-IPO press briefing.

The Turnaround Numbers

Arvind Chandrasekharan, Whole-time Director and CEO of Tenneco Clean Air India, provided a strong overview of the company’s financial health, emphasizing profitability, asset efficiency, and the positive impact of recent strategic changes. “This story is very important because India has also benefited from that culture change. India’s EBITDA performance improved 400 basis points in the last three years because of this culture change,” he noted. Tenneco established manufacturing operations in India in 1995.

According to company documents, its revenue from operations was ₹4,827 crore in fiscal year 2023. This figure rose to ₹5,468 crore in FY24, reflecting a period of expansion, before easing back to ₹4,890 crore in FY25. Despite the dip in revenue, the company’s profit after tax painted a very different picture — a consistent and robust upward climb across the same period. Starting with ₹381 crore in FY23, profits increased to ₹417 crore in FY24 and surged further to ₹553 crore in FY25.

More striking are the return metrics. The company’s return on capital employed (ROCE) reached 56.78% in fiscal 2025, up from 45.40% in FY24 and 33.51% in FY23, placing it among the most capital-efficient players in India’s automotive component sector, where the average ROCE stands at around 27.5%.

Based on a CRISIL report, Tenneco Clean Air India stands as the largest supplier of clean air solutions to Indian CV OEMs, with a market share of 57%, and to Indian OH OEMs (excluding tractors), with a market share of 68%. It is among the top four suppliers of clean air solutions to Indian PV OEMs, with a market share of 19%, and is the largest supplier of shock absorbers and struts to Indian PV OEMs, with a market share of 52%. While the company’s clean air and powertrain solutions contribute 52.6% of revenue, the advanced ride technologies division contributes the remaining 47.4%.

It boasts 12 manufacturing facilities strategically located near key OEM hubs in India, comprising four manufacturing facilities for clean air solutions and five manufacturing facilities for advanced ride technologies products. The company counts several leading vehicle manufacturers, including Maruti Suzuki, Ashok Leyland, Hyundai Motor, Mahindra, and Tata Motors, among its customers.

Tenneco Clean Air India operates in an intensely competitive market populated by global tier-one suppliers including Bosch, Timken India, SKF India, ZF Commercial Vehicle Control Systems India, Gabriel India, and Uno Minda, among several others. Its competitive advantages rest on long-standing customer relationships — the top 10 customers have partnered with the company for an average of over 19 years and access to Tenneco Group’s global intellectual property portfolio of over 5,000 patents and 7,500 trademarks.

The Global Parent’s Journey

Understanding the Indian unit’s transformation requires context from the US-based parent company’s recent history. Tenneco’s path through the early 2020s was marked by financial stress exacerbated by the Federal-Mogul acquisition in October 2018, which doubled the company’s size but also its debt burden. When Apollo announced the acquisition in February 2022, Tenneco’s shares were trading at $9.98; the private equity firm offered $20 per share, taking the company private in a transaction valued at approximately $7.1 billion including debt.

The parent company currently boasts revenue of $16,777 million in CY24. It has an employee strength of around 59,400 globally, along with 180 manufacturing plants and 39 R&D and technical centers.

“India continues to be a critical growth engine for Tenneco,” said Jim Voss, CEO of Tenneco, in May 2025 when appointing Chandrasekharan as CEO of India operations. Chandrasekharan, who previously served in senior positions at Delphi, Faurecia Exhaust Systems, Wabco Europe, Motherson Sumi Wiring India, and Minda Corporation, among others, was tasked with accelerating business growth, driving innovation in lightweight and cost-effective solutions, and positioning India as a global hub for manufacturing.

Export Ambitions and Global Manufacturing

Tenneco’s strategy for India extends beyond serving the domestic market, capitalizing on India’s emergence as a global manufacturing hub for automotive components. Currently, exports constitute approximately 3% of turnover in FY24.

This ambition aligns with broader trends in India’s automotive sector. The country’s auto component industry is projected to reach $200 billion by 2030, with exports of $70–100 billion, driven by government initiatives including “Make in India” and the Production Linked Incentive scheme. India’s cost advantages in the form of competitive labor costs, a skilled workforce, and improving infrastructure make it an attractive manufacturing base for global suppliers.

Tenneco’s localization strategy supports this export push. The company has achieved approximately 88–90% localization of components, with targets to inch further up. This reduces currency exposure while improving margins and delivery times.

“India was always behind technology from the West. But right now, we’re equal to the West on technology,” Chandrasekharan added. “So, we can supply the same product that we’re selling to Indian customers — you can export that to Europe as well.”