UK’s development finance institution British International Investment (BII) will invest Rs 19 billion into a new dedicated, four-wheeler electric passenger vehicle arm which India's automobile company Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) will incorporate. M&M and BII will invest $250 million each into the new entity called EV Co. at a valuation of Rs 700 billion ($9 billion). The two companies have signed a binding agreement for the same.
The announcement comes ahead of M&M's planned EV strategy it would announce next month. Last month, M&M said the company's first "born-electric" concept will break cover on August 15, 2022. This will be one among the several such models M&M would bring starting 2025 as it seeks to enter the race for pure battery propelled vehicles.
The event will take place at its newly opened design studio in Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, which has been instrumental in designing these concepts. This will be followed by a reveal of the electric XUV 400 in September 2022. M&M envisages 20 to 30 per cent of Mahindra SUVs to be electric by 2027. The EV Co "will significantly leverage the broader manufacturing capabilities, product development, design organizations along with the ecosystem of suppliers, dealers, and financiers of M&M," the statement said. The funds will be utilised primarily to create and market a world-class electric SUV portfolio with advanced technologies.
The investment alongside M&M in the new EV company supports BII’s undertaking that at least 30 per cent of its total investments will be in climate finance.
