Back

I was amazed to learn that 97% of all 19k buses operated by Tamil Nadu Govt are from Ashok Leyland 🙌🙌 Somehow, when it comes to the Tamil Nadu Govt’s tenders for buses, there is only one winner, whichever party may be in power. Tata, Eicher, SML Isuzu, PMI Electro, JBM Auto - Nobody gets past that wall. Not sure why that is the case, but it’s crazy! .. And mind it, the figure I have shared above is from the last year. Since then, Ashok Leyland has won three more tenders for another 2.7k buses from TN Govt’s units 🙏🙏 1> The first one came in October last year, when the State Govt placed an order for 1,666 diesel buses 2> Then in December, another tender for 552 diesel-run buses 3> And now, one more order for 500 electric buses To be precise - The latest order, it’s 400 non-AC buses and 100 AC buses. .. Once these three orders are completely fulfilled, Ashok Leyland’s share in buses owned by TN Govt will be almost 100%! 😅😅 -> I don’t know what the tender norms are, that nobody is able to bid an amount which can beat Ashok Leyland -> But, what I surely know is that this is a massive market share domination in one of India’s leading markets -> And though I am not alleging anything, something does seem fishy No? .. Anyhow, this does explain why Ashok Leyland has such a heavy concentration of its manufacturing plants in and around Tamil Nadu. It has two plants in Chennai, three more nearby in Hosur, one in Sriperumbudur (Kanchipuram). And then there is also a tech centre in Chennai. Amazing, isn’t it? .. This is in complete sync with the company’s choice for a new electric bus manufacturing plant - Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow. When announcing that plant, management had explained that it chose Lucknow, because it is expecting UP Govt to be one of the biggest drivers of electric bus demand in the coming years. The company clearly wants to replicate what it did in Tamil Nadu. It wants to build one more fort. .. But there is just one challenge. While Ashok Leyland’s factory of 2.5k buses a year capacity is presently under construction, rivals like JBM Auto and Tata Motors have already been operational here. And the competition is only heating up. Thus, while Tamil Nadu market seems to be in their pocket, UP may not turn out the same way 😅😅 What do you think?