Ashok Leyland weighs EV battery plant in Bhandara with Rs 10,000-15,000 crore outlay, Gadkari says
Union minister Nitin Gadkari says Ashok Leyland is evaluating an EV battery project in Maharashtra's Bhandara district, an investment he put at Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore should it go ahead.
- Rs 10,000-15,000 crore
- Rs 23 lakh crore
- one lakh
- Rs 15,000 crore
What Happened
Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Sunday that Ashok Leyland is evaluating a battery plant for EVs in Bhandara as one of its expansion moves. Should the auto company proceed, he said, the investment could come to between Rs 10,000 crore and Rs 15,000 crore. The remarks came as Gadkari pitched Vidarbha to companies looking for a place to build. Ashok Leyland has not confirmed the project.
Rs 10,000 crore - Rs 15,000 crore
The spending range Gadkari cited if the company goes ahead with the Bhandara project
- An industrial labour scene that is free of strikes
- Logistics networks that are growing and increasingly multi-modal
- A dry port that already runs, letting freight go straight to export markets
“If they go ahead, then it could bring in investments between Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore.”
Gadkari listed other activity in the region to support his case. He said Mahindra is building a Rs 15,000 crore facility, while the Mihan project has already produced one lakh jobs across Vidarbha. He described Nagpur as an emerging logistics capital, noting its dry port now handles direct exports, and said Mahindra tractors are shipped by river to Bangladesh from Haldia Port, which lowers logistics costs. A nationwide zero mines policy, he added, would make marketing simpler.
Gadkari said India's automobile industry now sits third in the world, with only the United States and China ahead of it, and that the sector is valued at Rs 23 lakh crore. It had been in seventh place before overtaking Japan, he said. His stated ambition is for the country to hold the top spot globally within five years.
- Rs 10,000 crore to Rs 15,000 crore
- Rs 15,000 crore
Why this matters
The range Gadkari named is large enough to matter for Vidarbha's industrial base, a region he was presenting to companies as a place to invest. He made the case more broadly, citing jobs already created in the area and export infrastructure. The project is not confirmed: Ashok Leyland is only described as weighing it.
Terms in This Story
- Dry port
- An inland cargo terminal with customs facilities that allows goods to be cleared and exported without first passing through a coastal seaport.
- Crore
- An Indian unit of quantity equal to ten million, or 10,000,000.
- Multi-modal logistics
- Freight transport that combines more than one mode, such as road, rail, air or water.
A brief summary; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.