Suzuki Motor Corporation, the parent firm of Maruti Suzuki India, has recently announced its investment of Rs 10,445 crore (150 billion Yen) in Gujarat by 2026 to locally manufacture electric vehicles and batteries. In an exclusive with Roshun Povaiah, Editor, Financial Express Digital, RC Bhargava, Chairman and former CEO of Maruti Suzuki throws more light on India’s relationship with electric vehicles, Indo-Japanese partnership, and the need for different fuels in the ecosystem.
“Electric alone is not going to do the job in India. Different fuels, CNG, hybrids need to come in, but petrol and diesel should not be encouraged,” says RC Bhargava.
Suzuki has reported a total investment of Rs. 23,000 crore in Gujarat (Including vendors). Under the new EV policy of the Government of Gujarat, Rs. 10,400 crore is set aside for the manufacturing of electric vehicles and EV batteries.
“In the context of the Indian market, the pace of acceptance of electric cars in India is going to be slower than in affluent countries, but we are a market that will keep growing. India will grow at a faster pace in the next 10 years than it has grown in any other 10-year period ever” he adds.
Maruti Suzuki offers a wide choice of CNG options in India and more than half of its portfolio here has a CNG alternative, such as the Celerio, Swift, Dzire, Tour S, Ertiga, and even the recently launched Alto K10.
“Everyone is getting out of the public sector globally and I am thankful to the govt for trusting the private sector now in India, and for making it easier to do business,” says Bhargava.
In addition to that, Suzuki claims to have invested around Rs. 16,000 crores in the last decade in Gujarat. The Hansalpur plant of Suzuki Motor Gujarat (SMG) has 3 manufacturing units and together they have the capacity to manufacture 7.5 lakh cars a year.
Suzuki entered Gujarat in the year 2011 and at present, the group holds 2 more companies, along with SMG, operating in India – Suzuki Motorcycle India Private Lmt. and TDS Lithium-ion Battery Gujarat (Toshiba-Denso-Suzuki Joint Venture).
As per the Japanese brand, the car and component industry together, are the largest recipient of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) among all manufacturing sectors in India.
RC Bhargava also commented on safety on Indian roads and said that a country can’t depend on two-wheelers as they are inconvenient and unsafe. “We have 230 million registered two-wheelers. The car industry is still under-penetrated and we need to uplift the quality of life of people in India,” he added.
