JBM Auto bags order worth ₹7,500 cr for 1,390 e-buses; stock up 10%

Shares of JBM Auto surged 9.8% to hit an intraday high of ₹2,060.60 apiece on the BSE on Tuesday, after its subsidiary, JBM Ecolife Mobility, bagged an order worth ₹7,500 crore for the supply of 1,390 electric buses. The tender has been awarded by Convergence Energy Services Limited (CESL) under the PM E-bus Sewa Scheme, JBM Auto says in a regulatory filing.

"JBM Ecolife Mobility Private Limited, a subsidiary of JBM Auto Limited, has been declared as L1 and awarded the Tender as a bus operator for procurement, supply, operation and maintenance of 1,390 electric buses [approx. 65%] and development of allied electric and civil Infrastructure on gross cost contracting [GCC] under the PM-eBus Sewa Scheme," says the company. The company aims to execute the order in the next 12-18 months.

At 1:05 pm, the share price of the auto component manufacturer was trading 5.91% higher at ₹1,985.15. In contrast to this, the broader BSE Sensex was trading 653.42 points lower at 72,095.

JBM Auto's market capitalisation stood at ₹23,516.99 crore with 18,290 shares exchanging hands on the BSE, as against the two-week average of 0.26 lakh shares. JBM Auto shares hit a 52-week high of ₹2,417.30 on February 19 this year and a 52-week low of ₹604 on March 20 last year. In the year-to-date period, the share price of JBM Auto has risen 22.53%.

In the October to December quarter, the company's net profit grew by 46% to ₹48.63 crore, as against ₹33.17 crore in the same period last year. The company's revenue from operations stood at ₹1,346 crore. The company is reportedly looking to cross ₹5,000 crore in revenue for the current fiscal year. Of this, the company is aiming for a revenue target of ₹900 crore for its bus business for the current fiscal year.

Notably, the government in August last year introduced the PM e-Bus Sewa Scheme at an outlay of ₹57,613 crore. Of this, the central government will provide ₹20,000 crore, while the states are expected to shell out the rest. Under the scheme, 10,000 new e-buses will be deployed in 100 cities to promote green mobility.

The procurement, maintenance and operations of EV buses will be through public-private partnership mode. Central assistance will be provided to run these buses on a per-kilometre basis for the next 10 years. The scheme will be applicable until 2027. The scheme is expected to generate 45,000-55,000 direct jobs.