TVS Motor Company plans to expand its electric two-wheeler capacity and charging infrastructure as the leading two- and three-wheeler maker prepares for pan-India sale of its electric scooter, launch new products and take its electric two-wheeler to the global markets soon.

“Our electric scooter iQube continues to draw a good response. We have more than 6,000 bookings as of now. Despite the challenge in the electronic parts supply chain, we have been able to improve production and sales month after month. We are engaged in discussion with major suppliers for long-term arrangements for parts,” said KN Radhakrishnan, Director & CEO, TVS Motor Company, during the company’s earnings call.

He said iQube was being sold in 33 cities, and the company was working on reaching across the country by the end of this fiscal. TVS Motor has sold more than 5,000 units of iQube during this fiscal. The company is also contemplating launching the vehicle in international markets.

Investments in the EV business

The company is progressing on the ₹1,000-crore investments in the EV business. The newly formed EV subsidiary is expected to give the company better flexibility and scale in the EV segment globally.

“We are creating a capacity for 10,000 units a month for electric two-wheelers. We will scale up this further from Q1 of next fiscal. We have planned some aggressive capacity expansion during next fiscal, he said.

The company is working on a set of electric products targeting a different set of buyers in two- and three-wheeler segments. “The next few quarters will see new electric two-wheelers, followed by electric three-wheelers,” he added.

As the company seeks to offer wide and reliable charging infrastructure for its EV customers across India, it is in the process of entering into partnerships with major companies in the charging infra space, and hopes its charging infra partners such as Tata Power and CESL (Convergence Energy Services Ltd) will substantially enhance customer convenience. “CESL has shortlisted TVS Motor for supplying more than 2000 electric 3Ws,” said Radhakrishnan.

Investor for NBFC

TVS Motor is looking for an external investor for its NBFC arm, TVS Credit. The book size of the NBFC is ₹12,805 crore as of December 31, 2021, and it is likely to end the fiscal with a book size of ₹14,000-15,000 crore. “The very good part is in the last four months, we have not made any provisions towards NPAs as our collections were extremely good. As of December 31, 2021, the gross NPA was 3.9 per cent against 4.3 per cent as of September 2021 and net NPA was 2.2 per cent against 2.75 per cent. It has a very healthy capital adequacy ratio of 18.8 per cent,” said K Gopala Desikan, Chief Financial Officer, TVS Motor Company.

Total collections were at ₹2,700 crore in December 2021 quarte, compared to ₹2,200 crore in December 2020 quarter, while disbursements were about ₹4,000 crore against ₹2,800 crore. “Overall, the performance has been externally good. What we are looking for outside capital and partners for value unlocking and future growth,” he added.

BMW tie-up

Along with BMW, its partner since 2013 for the development and manufacturing of sub-500cc bikes, TVS Motor will be developing a common platform by mutually tapping the emerging technologies in the future mobility space with a special focus on EV.

This partnership will see the development of exclusive products by both the companies on the common platform and both will retail their products globally.

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