The plant to create nearly 10,000 jobs
Chennai, NFAPost: With an aim to make India a manufacturing hub for electric vehicles, Ola has signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu government for a Rs 2400-crore investment in setting up the largest scooter manufacturing plant in Hosur.
The MoU was signed in Chennai on Monday in the presence of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami along with Minister of Industries, and Chief Secretaries.
Upon completion, the factory will create almost 10,000 jobs and will be the world’s largest scooter manufacturing facility, which will initially have an annual capacity of 2 million units.
In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision, Ola’s factory is an important step in making an Atma Nirbhar Bharat. It will catalyze reduction of India’s import dependence in a key future sector like electric vehicles, boost local manufacturing, create jobs as well as improve the technical expertise in the country.
The factory will also galvanize India’s electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem and establish India as a key player in the EV manufacturing space. Ola believes that India with its unique skill-sets, manpower and demography is well placed to be a global hub for the cutting edge manufacturing of EVs.
Ola’s factory will cater to customers not only in India but in markets around the world including Europe, UK, New Zealand, and more. The company is gearing up to launch the first of its range of highly anticipated electric scooters in the coming months.
Ola Chairman and Group CEO Bhavish Aggarwal said, “A manufacturing unit in Tamil Nadu is an ideal choice for us owing to the strategic location, conducive business environment, a favourable ecosystem and high-level of skill-sets in the state.”
He added that this is an important development towards realising our vision of moving the world towards sustainable mobility solutions across shared and owned mobility.
“Furthermore, we are happy to make an investment of Rs 2,400 crore in Tamil Nadu which will lead to job creation for many. The new manufacturing plant aligns with Ola’s global vision to move mobility into a more sustainable, accessible and connected future,” he said.
The factory will produce Ola’s upcoming range of two-wheeler products starting with Ola’s electric scooter which has already won several prestigious design and innovation awards around the world including Marketing Innovation award at CES and the German Design Award.
Earlier this year Ola announced plans to hire over 2,000 people for its electric business as it rapidly builds a suite of electric and smart urban mobility solutions for consumers around the world. Recently, the company also roped in General Motor Veteran Jose Pinheiro to head its global manufacturing and operations.
Ola is India’s largest mobility platform and one of the world’s largest ride-hailing companies, serving 250+ cities across India, Australia, New Zealand, and the UK including key global markets like London and Sydney. The Ola app offers mobility solutions by connecting customers to drivers and a wide range of vehicles across bikes, auto-rickshaws, metered taxis, and cabs, enabling convenience and transparency for hundreds of millions of consumers and over 2.5 million driver-partners.
The company’s core mobility offering in India is supplemented by its electric-vehicle arm, Ola Electric and Ola Fleet Technologies, India’s largest fleet management business.
