Wardwizard Innovations & Mobility Ltd., a BSE listed electric vehicles (EV) company, is planning to invest ₹150 crore in the development of new products, meeting working capital requirements and setting up manufacturing facilities in the South and the East to cater to the growing demand for EVs.

To stay closer to its customers as well as to improve margins, the company has started discussions to set up facilities in Kerala in the South and either in Odisha or West Bengal in the East, top company executives said.

“We are in a sunrise sector,” said Yatin Gupte, chairman & MD.

“Whatever we are producing is far less than the demand. So, we are ramping up production. We are developing a reliable vendor base to source all components from India. We are also in discussions with our distributors in the South and the East to finalise the location of the new facilities.”

“We need to invest ₹150 crore to cater to the demand. We are investing prudently for the benefit of all stakeholders. We are doing everything to be a serious and sustainable player in the EV segment,” he added.

CFO Sneha Shouche said talks were on to raise the funds. “We will raise ₹150 crore and are open to a equity-based financing model. The capex will be in tranches. We have a strong pipeline of products to capitalise on the growth opportunities,” she said.

The company, which is currently purely into personal electric two-wheelers under the Joy e-bikes brand, has its assembly unit in Vadodara with an annual production capacity of 1 lakh units. This is likely to be enhanced to 3 lakh units, she added.

Last year, it had sold 4,300 units and in the first six months of FY22, it had sold about 7,500 units. The plan is to sell 25,000 units in FY22.

With nine EV two wheeler models in the market, the company is gearing up to roll out high-speed scooters and motorcycles shortly to broad base its product offering. Currently 80% of its units are sold in rural India and this area will remain in focus in the near future before it expands to key metro cities, executives said.

Source  : The Hindu