Pune, Oct 29 (PTI) Electric mobility firm EKA Mobility plans to invest about Rs 1,000 crore in research and development over the next five years to become a technology leader in the e-mobility space, company founder and chairman Sudhir Mehta said.

     A subsidiary of automotive components maker Pinnacle Industries, Eka has so far invested Rs 3,500 crore in the business, with Japanese firm Mitsui &Co and the Netherlands' VDL Groep as its strategic partners, he said.

     "About Rs 3,500 crore is what we have invested so far. And Rs 600 crore plus we have spent in R&D so far. And we have a big 12-13 (vehicles) platform range. So, we will keep investing in technology. We will invest about Rs 1,000 crore at least on R&D over the next five years," Mehta told PTI during a media interaction.

     "Because we are very clear: our product differentiation will come from developing technology in India. We are not looking to become; we are looking to stay ahead of the game, and we want to be leaders in (e-mobility) technology," he said.

     EKA Mobility designs and manufactures electric buses, trucks, and small commercial vehicles at its two facilities in Pune while a third one is coming up in Pithampur in Madhya Pradesh.

     Besides the domestic market, the company also has a presence in Zanzibar in Africa as well as in Nepal.

    Mehta said that the company is looking to expand its international footprint and aiming to have 25-30 per cent of the sales volume to come from exports business.

     "We are looking at Ghana, Ethiopia, Uganda and many African markets, basically, much of West and South Africa. Our objective is that in the next five years 25-30 per cent of our sales should be exports," he said.

     Mehta said that EKA will provide all technologies to these countries and encourage local assembling of the vehicles in those markets.

     Stating that the company is talking to potential partners in many African countries, he said, "Everywhere where there is volume, we want them to do it locally because otherwise you will not be able to convert the market if you are not local, in our view.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)
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