BYD to steer clear of India's new EV policy

Electric carmaker BYD has no plans to sign up for the Indian government’s new electric vehicle manufacturing policy which offers reduced import duty on EVs if a company commits to invest $500 million to set up a new plant in the country.

“We did study that policy and we have come to a conclusion that we will not be able to go for it at this time. It has to be a business case in the long run, only then investments will come. At this point, we are not signing up for that,” says Rajeev Chauhan, head of electric passenger vehicles business at BYD India.

BYD currently imports its cars from China.

When asked if BYD plans to make cars in India, Chauhan says he hopes that day will come. “We are being cautious. I think it’s a slow process. Someday we feel perhaps we would be there but not in the short term,” he says, adding that there are no active discussions with any local partner.

To be clear, companies belonging to countries that share land border with India need prior government approval to make foreign direct investment in the country.

BYD India on Tuesday launched a new electric multi-purpose vehicle – the BYD eMAX 7 with prices starting from ₹26.90 lakh (ex-showroom).

As per government regulations, a carmaker which imports cars can sell only 2,500 units a year without homologation. If Indian testing agencies such as ARAI provide this certification, then one can sell as per the market demand, says Chauhan.

“We wanted to go beyond this threshold of 2,500 cars. We decided that Atto 3 could be one car. So we already certified it. If the market needs an additional 3,000 cars we can deliver,” says Chauhan. The automaker has also applied for homologation of the newly launched eMAX 7.

BYD sold a little over 2,000 cars in 2023. This year, the carmaker has already sold 2,100 units so far even before the festive period is yet to end. “We expect to sell at least 3,000 cars this year,” says Chauhan. This comes at a time when total sales of electric cars in India have contracted in the first six months of the ongoing fiscal. Chauhan says the decline in total industry volumes of EVs is a short blip that will fade away soon.

BYD aims to play only in the premium segment in India and has no plans to launch an affordable EV in the near term. “We are trying to spot opportunities in the premium segment. We are not restricted by shape. BYD has a line-up of cars starting from hatchback to luxury SUVs. But we only want to concentrate on the premium segment in India,” says Chauhan.

Even though the Chinese carmaker has a range of plug-in hybrid vehicles in its portfolio, it is also not looking at introducing those models in India. “We have to have a clear business case to bring plug-in hybrids to India. We are still waiting for that,” says Chauhan.

BYD has sold around 1,000 units of electric sedan Seal which was rolled out in India earlier this year. “The sedan market was not doing great in India for a few years now. We spotted this opportunity if we can introduce a premium performance car with under ₹50-lakh price tag. This was met with tremendous response. In about six months, we have sold 1,000 cars in the country,” says Chauhan.