Leading truck and bus maker Ashok Leyland is planning to invest more than ₹2,000 crore in alternate fuel segments over the next five years under the PLI scheme for the automobile sector. 

“We have qualified for the PLI scheme. With the expansion in our product range to electric mobility and hydrogen segments, I think the PLI scheme augurs well for us. The investment criteria is ₹2,000 crore upwards. So the plan over the next 5 years for us would be definitely to meet those requirements. Our proposed investment will go predominantly into EVs, and hydrogen and there will be something in infrastructure as well,” Dheeraj Hinduja, Executive Chairman, Ashok Leyland told BusinessLine on Thursday. 

The PLI scheme for the automobile sector has two parts. The Champion OEM Incentive Scheme is for battery electric vehicles and hydrogen fuel cell vehicles of all segments. The Component Champion Incentive Scheme is for advanced automotive technology components of all vehicles, CKD/SKD kits, vehicle aggregates of 2-wheelers, 3-wheelers, passenger vehicles, commercial vehicles, and tractors. 

“The final amount to be invested over five years under the PLI scheme will be announced in a couple of months,” added Dheeraj.   

Market share

Dheeraj also said Ashok Leyland regained its market share in the medium and heavy truck segment and it crossed 30 per cent in March 2022 quarter. 

A combination of factors helped the Hinduja flagship to achieve market share growth. During the peak of COVID, some of our dealers in the Northern and Eastern regions closed down. We have renewed more than 20 dealerships in the last few months. Also, the launch of the CNG variant of ICV (intermediate commercial vehicle) is another major factor as ICV is the largest category in the CV industry today and within that CNG variants account for 40 per cent of the volumes. So, the introduction of the CNG variant in the ICV segment helped. We also saw a revival of the MAV (multi-axle vehicle) segment, in which Ashok Leyland has traditionally been strong. All these factors along with our product performance contributed to the growth of our market share,” stated Dheeraj. 

Ashok Leyland is planning to launch CNG variants of its small commercial vehicles Dost and Bada Dost, Avtar range as also in the bus segment in the coming months. 

FY22 - Back in black

For the quarter ended March 31, 2022, the company’s standalone net profit stood at ₹901 crore, boosted by an exceptional income of ₹470 crore, as against ₹241 crore in the year-ago quarter.

“Exceptional gain was on account of certain adjustments of write-backs and impairments,” said Gopal Mahadevan, Whole Time Director & Chief Financial Officer of the company.

Profit before exceptional items and tax stood at ₹528 crore as against ₹277 crore. Revenue grew by 25 per cent at ₹8,744 crore as compared to ₹7,000 crore on the back of strong growth in’s truck volumes. 

For the full year FY22, the company’s net profit stood at ₹542 crore, boosted by an exceptional gain of ₹511 crore, as compared to a net loss of ₹314 crore. Profit before exceptional items and tax stood at ₹16 crore as against a loss of ₹400 crore. Revenue grew by 42 per cent at ₹21,688 crore as compared to ₹15,301 crore on the back of 42 per cent growth in medium and heavy truck sales volumes, 36 per cent growth in bus volumes and 38 per cent rise in export volumes.  

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