Omega Seiki Mobility looks to invest $300-600M in electric mobility biz

Omega Seiki Mobility (OSM), a part of Anglian Omega Group of companies, is looking to invest $300-600 million (around Rs 2,232 crore - Rs 4,465 crore) in the next 5-7 years in electric mobility business as it aims to become a global brand, its chairman Uday Narang has said.

The Faridabad-based electric vehicle company has plans to set up a manufacturing facility and an R&D centre in collaboration with an OEM in Europe and foray into the African market besides expanding its footprint in the domestic EV space, he said.

The EV maker currently has a manufacturing plant in Faridabad and the second one is expected to be commissioned there in the next few months. It launched its first electric three-wheeler last year.

Earlier this month, OSM announced a collaboration with French automotive supplier Valeo for electric powertrains.

The company currently has two cargo e-three-wheelers in its portfolio, and it is expecting to roll out scooters, rickshaws, four-wheeler cargo, tractors and buses, all electric, going forward, according to Narang.

"We have already invested Rs 200 crore, and putting in another Rs 1,000 crore for our expansion plans. However, going by our aggressive expansion plans and the anticipated demand, we will obviously need to invest much more. In the next 5-7 years, will expect to invest close to USD 300-600 million, Narang told PTI.

In terms of expansion, OSM has strong interest in Bangladesh, where it is setting up a plant, besides ASEAN and Africa, he said, adding that the company has had multiple conversations with players in African nations such as Kenya, Zambia, Ethiopia, Nigeria, South Africa and Botswana.

He said the company may set up a semi-knock down assembling plant and individual facilities also in these countries as part of its 'Make-in-Africa' plan for the region but initially it will begin with import of fully-built vehicles.

"We are working on a major alliance with a European OEM on buses. This will be our multiple product, he said.

On the products side, Narang said that the company is also going to introduce an electric tractor in the market and for this purpose its R&D teams are working on it right at present. "We hope to showcase our product in the very near future. Our R&D teams are continuously working to develop new products," he added.

Noting that the pandemic has given the company an opportunity in terms of demand, that comes from both ecommerce and non-ecommerce players, he said the cargo sector is expected to move much faster than the passenger segment. "This is why our focus will be on the cargo sector going forward."

He said OSM is in the process of launching 2 tonner four-wheelers for cargo transportation, and it is expected to give a tough competition to the existing players in the IC engine segment.

OSM is going quite big on B2B but also on B2C because the real scale and the market is going to come from B2C. At the moment it is getting massive orders in the B2B business, which currently constitutes as much as 90 percent of the total business. But over the next six months, it is expected to be in the 50: 50 ratio, he said.

Narang said that the company's current order book stands at around 6,000 vehicles and with its participation in the CESL tenders for 3-lakh e-three-wheelers, floated recently, it is expecting to grab a major order from the government.

The company has already participated in the Andhra Pradesh Government tenders for garbage trucks, he added.

We have a very substantial order book for this financial year. With these tenders we are looking at more and we will continue to upgrade quarter-to-quarter, he said.

Omega Seiki has to ramp up capacity continuously amid the massive increase in demand and with the fuel prices having an adverse impact on the transportation cost is looking to have a hub and spoke model, with North India serving as the hub and the other regions as spokes, said Narang.

The projected capacity for this fiscal is 46,000 units but the kind of demand we are seeing, we would have to initiate a third manufacturing facility also. Our total capacity is expected to go twice or thrice of the existing capacity by FY23," he said.