BII plans additional $300 million investment in Indian EV ecosystem
British International Investment (BII), a development finance institution from the UK, has revealed its intention to invest an additional $300 million in India's electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem over the next three years. This information was shared by Abhinav Sinha, BII's MD and Head of Technology & Telecoms. According to Sinha, the climate in India is of utmost importance to BII, and within that, the EV sector is likely to be their largest investment area.
Investment history and future opportunities
BII has already invested approximately $300 million in India's EV sector, backing companies such as the Mahindra Group's EV arm with nearly $250 million, and start-ups like Euler Motors, Turno, and Battery Smart. Sinha sees more investment opportunities in India's EV manufacturing, components, and financing segments. He noted, "The leader today is China, but for India to be significantly ahead of where it is today... we think it's a very achievable sort of an objective... So we're quite bullish."
Significant EV penetration in India by 2030
Sinha foresees a "massive level" of EV penetration in public transportation in India by 2030. He also expects a significant increase in the adoption of passenger electric cars. Sinha expressed his belief that "even if it's not as much as China, it'll be ahead of Europe and the US in the way it's going and all the push coming from the government as well as the logic of total cost of ownership."
Focus on early stage investments in Indian EV sector
Regarding future investment plans, Sinha indicated that BII will concentrate on earlier stage investments. He explained that "What we realised is that a lot of focus has to go on earlier stage investments and these tend to be smaller, even though the number of our typical sizes in these spaces are like $5 million to $10 million investments."
