New Delhi: India plans to float a fresh tender for over 3,000 electric buses by June, according to people aware of the development. This is set to be launched just six months after closing of the country's largest e-bus tender for over 10,000 units.
The move aims to sharpen the country's push to electrify public transport and reduce fuel dependence, as oil supply risks from the West Asia war continue to weigh on costs.
According to two executives in the know, the tender will be rolled out under the PM e-bus seva scheme, which aims to subsidize purchase of 10,000 e-buses across the country. For the government, the tender will take the number of e-buses tendered in the last one year to nearly 20,000 units.
Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), a government-backed firm that manages the e-bus tenders, confirmed to Mint that the tender will be rolled out in the next two to three months.
“Final numbers will be confirmed by MoHUA (ministry of housing and urban affairs) after the elections and the model code of conduct in the states is over,” a CESL spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
Assam, Keralam, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are among the poll-bound states in April-May this year.
One of the executives mentioned above added that the number of e-buses to be tendered can be in the range of 3,000-3,700. The last tender under the PM e-bus sewa scheme was launched in 2024.
India's electric bus push has been gaining momentum as the government's subsidy focus largely shifts towards electric buses and trucks from two- and three-wheelers.
India is looking to find alternative sources of energy as fossil fuel supplies are being disrupted due to the ongoing US-Iran war. On Friday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told state chief ministers and lieutenant governors that the use of alternative fuels, including electric mobility, should be promoted.
In 2025, the Centre had floated a tender under the flagship PM E-Drive scheme to deploy 10,900 e-buses in five cities with CESL as the demand aggregator, the largest such tender in the country. In January 2026, letters of award were given to PMI Electro, EKA Mobility, Olectra Greentech, among others, for this long-term supply contract.
A second PM E-Drive scheme tender has also been floated for about 3,000 more buses to cover more major cities.
Meanwhile, manufacturers have also shown interest in e-bus tenders under the PM E-bus Sewa scheme run by the ministry of housing and urban affairs, with a target of deploying 10,000 buses in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. So far, more than 6,200 e-buses have been tendered under this scheme, as per a written reply from the government in Lok Sabha on 10 March.
Moreover, India recorded e-bus sales of 4,978 units in FY26, compared to 3,313 units in the previous fiscal year.
"The government’s continued push towards electrifying public transport is a strong and timely signal for the industry. The broader vision of scaling up to 50,000 electric buses is already translating into tangible momentum, with a significant portion being tendered or deployed over the past year," said Ganesh Mani, chief executive at Switch Mobility, Ashok Leyland's electric bus arm.
Queries sent to Tata Motors Ltd, JBM Auto Ltd, PMI Electro Mobility Solutions Pvt. Ltd and Olectra Greentech Ltd did not reply to emailed queries on the development.
Analysts have noted that e-bus sales are entering their phase of scaling. “Annual e‑bus volumes are projected to exceed 17,000 units by FY27, nearly 15% of total bus sales compared with just 4% in FY24. This is driven by large public transport tenders and multi‑year procurement pipelines,” said Saket Mehra, partner and automotive & EV industry leader at Grant Thornton Bharat.
Industry executives said government tenders will make it easier for them to roll out e-buses faster in the next few years.
"The only challenge to this e-bus adoption is infrastructural readiness. We need to build depots and charging infrastructure before the buses are deployed," Sudhir Mehta, founder and chairman at Eka Mobility, told Mint.
He said the West Asia crisis is giving impetus to the shift towards EVs as fossil fuels supply chains are tough derisk.