The Murugappa Group’s electric vehicle division is betting greater localization and higher sales, as it chases a target of achieving $1 billion revenue and profitability by 2030.
The Chennai-based group is amping up all four EV divisions—passenger three-wheelers, small commercial vehicles, electric trucks and electric tractors—a top company executive at Montra Electric said. Montra is brand name for TI Clean Mobility Pvt. Ltd, a unit of publicly listed Murugappa company Tube Investments of India Ltd.
“We realized that we need to move towards the journey of self-dependence and own this thing,” Jalaj Gupta, managing director, Montra said, on a day the company opened a battery pack plant in Haryana’s Manesar with an annual capacity of 1.7 GWh. It also launched a new electric truck with a battery swapping option, plus a new conveyor belt for its electric trucks at the Manesar plant. The company, which used to import entire battery packs from China’s EVE, will now source only the battery cells from China. The plant will provide battery packs for its electric trucks.
“What is driving us is that we want to be about $1 billion topline by 2030…When we reach that, we intend to be profitable at that particular point of time,” Gupta said.
TI Clean Mobility’s four businesses remain at various stages of evolution. Since inception in 2022, Montra has sold over 10,000 three wheelers and 350 electric trucks, while the sales expansion in SCVs and tractors remains nascent. “Every business will have their own journey towards reaching the profitability part. We anticipate this truck business as well as the three wheeler business will hit profitability sooner,” Gupta said.
Murugappa stepped into the electric business in 2022 by setting up TI Clean Mobility under Tube Investments, a major component supplier to automobile companies. TI Clean Mobility has so far raised ₹3,000 crore from its parent, State Bank of India, Multiples Private Equity Fund and other investors.
As it invests in expanding the EV business, losses have mounted too. TI Clean Mobility clocked revenue of revenue of ₹550 crore and loss of ₹1,116 crore in FY25, according to Tube Investments’ annual report.
The $39 billion Murugappa Group has quickly expanded its presence in the electric space in nearly all commercial segments, from electric autos ferrying customers to electric trucks carrying goods, within a matter of three years.
As automakers across the country continue to struggle to make money from EVs, is the bet too risky? Gupta says the answer is nuanced.
“The answer is yes and no. Post evaluating the risk, we were of the opinion that perhaps this is the right strategy to go ahead with,” he said on the company’s effort to expand presence rapidly.
“I give huge credit to the promoters. How many business houses today are willing to take a bold bet of entering into all the four segments together? Even the big established players are doing it one step at a time,” Gupta said.
As Murugappa focuses on the EV bet, the management says the company is investing in research and development to own the intellectual property for key technologies.
“We have designed our own microcontrollers and hopefully by the end of this year, at least the particular e-truck division, which is the most complicated one, we will have our own set of microcontrollers, which are designed by us,” Gupta says.
Microcontrollers in electric vehicles are single-chip small computers that control functions like motor control, battery management, and power electronics of the vehicle. The company is also looking to ensure that battery packs for all of its divisions are either made by the brand itself or sourced from an Indian player.
“The battery cells for the small commercial vehicle are assembled at Jayem Automotives Pvt Ltd, an R&D unit of the firm. It will also start supplying for three-wheeler business soon,” Gupta said.
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