New Delhi: India's established commercial vehicle makers are increasingly turning to their group companies for electric bus orders, as aggressive bidding by newer rivals squeezes them out of government contracts.
Electric bus units of conglomerates, including Tata Motors Ltd, Ashok Leyland Ltd and JSW Greentech Ltd, are tapping demand from sister companies across steel, aviation and manufacturing businesses to keep production lines running even if public tender wins dry up.
The push from these busmakers comes at a time when companies have called out aggressive pricing in government tenders, which they claim are unsustainable in the long run.
Over the past 12 months, the central government has tendered around 17,000 electric buses through two tenders, with Eka and PMI winning more than two third share while Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland barely made their presence felt.
“One of the advantages of being able to scale sales to group firms is that the company doesn't have to be too aggressive in winning government tenders as we can cushion with orders to our associate companies,” a senior executive at an electric bus maker said on the condition of anonymity.
Hinduja Group’s Ashok Leyland has sold over 170 electric buses, or about 6% of its total sales since 2022, to other group firms, while JSW Greentech has supplied its first batch of 25 electric buses to a steel plant of the conglomerate. While Tata Motors has not laid out its numbers, the company is also tapping firms like Air India and Tata Steel for orders.
JSW has begun rolling out its electric buses, with 25 buses supplied to a JSW Steel plant, as it looks to tap internal group orders to kickstart its electric bus journey, an executive aware of the matter said.
“JSW's leadership across steel, energy, ports, cement, offers a natural starting point for deployment of electric buses and trucks. Competitive reliable transportation solutions ensure faster decision-making and smoother adoption,” a JSW Greentech spokesperson told Mint.
“Combined with captive charging infrastructure integrated with fleet operations, it creates a strong business case and a scalable path for deploying electric commercial vehicles,” the spokesperson added.
To be sure, the buses are being bought on an arm’s-length basis, as per company disclosures. In an arm's length basis, companies negotiate sales contracts on independent terms basis price of the product without a preferential treatment.
JSW Greentech was established in 2024 to build electric buses and trucks with its own brand, but is yet to begin commercial sales. The conglomerate also participated in the latest PM E Drive tender, where it participated in all cities and emerged as the second or third in Pune, Hyderabad, Delhi and Ahmedabad.
JSW is borrowing from the playbook of electric bus units of established bus makers like Ashok Leyland whose EV unit Switch Mobility is tapping orders from group firms.
“We leverage our parent company’s ecosystem strategically. Group companies, including our logistics networks and employee transit operations, serve as our foundational incubator. Till date, we have deployed 170+ vehicles among these companies,” Ganesh Mani, chief executive at Switch Mobility, told Mint.
“As a broader business overview, we are hitting peak traction. In FY26, we grew electric bus volumes from 444 units to 1,166 units, while strengthening our position as one of the leading players in the segment. We also have an order book of over 1,600 buses, providing strong visibility for future growth,” Mani added.
While Tata Motors doesn't disclose the number of electric buses it has sold to its internal group firms, it notes that the company increasingly looks for orders from the group companies.
Tata Motors works closely with Tata Group companies to deploy electric buses, aligned with the Group’s net-zero ambition of 2045. "We have received orders and deployed electric buses across multiple Group companies, including Tata Steel, Tata Electronics and Air India SATS, supporting use cases such as employee transport and airport operations,” Anand S, vice-president and business head of Passenger Commercial Vehicles at Tata Motors, told Mint.
“We continue to actively engage with other Group companies for further deployments,” Anand noted.
Electric bus sales have picked up over the last four years, with annual sales rising from 1988 electric buses in 2022 to 4,892 electric buses in 2025, according to the government Vahan portal. Sales are largely coming owing to central and state governments tenders even as conglomerates try and unlock orders from their own group firms. Electric buses account for 6% of annual bus sales in India.
Experts suggest there is a big market for electrifying fleets of internal group firms, which can aid these companies.
“All groups have significant inhouse demand. Government orders will come when it does, this will ensure they remain viable and there are buses on road,” Subhabrata Sengupta, partner at Avalon Consulting, said.