Toyota to invest 48b rupees to make electric vehicle parts in India

TOYOTA Group plans to invest 48 billion rupees (S$864 million) to make electric vehicle components in India, as the Japanese carmaker works towards carbon neutrality by 2050.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor and Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts signed a memorandum of understanding with the southern state of Karnataka to invest 41 billion rupees, the group said in a statement on Saturday (Mah 7). The rest will come from Toyota Industries Engine India.

Toyota is aligning its own green targets with India’s ambitions of becoming a manufacturing hub though the switch to clean transport in the South Asian nation is slower than other countries such as China and the US. Expensive price tags, lack of options in electric models and insufficient charging stations have led to sluggish adoption of battery vehicles in India.

“From a direct employment point of view, we are looking at around 3,500 new jobs,” Toyota Kirloskar vice-vhairman Vikram Gulati told the Press Trust of India in an interview. “As the supply chain system builds, we expect much more to come in later.”

Indian carmakers could generate US$20 billion in revenue from electric vehicles between now and fiscal year 2026, a forecast by Crisil showed. By 2040, 53 per cent of new car sales in India will be electric, compared with 77 per cent in China, according to BloombergNEF. BLOOMBERG