Tata Motors Bags Orders for 5,000 Buses Worth INR 900 Crore

Tata Motors, India’s leading manufacturer of commercial vehicles, has bagged several mega deals, totalling over 5,000 buses worth INR 900 crore. The company has received these orders from 25 state/city transport undertakings across the country. The huge outpour of orders from STUs (State Transport Undertakings) after a gap of four years indicates renewed focus of the different state governments/city transport providers on strengthening their public transport.

These orders from various STUs and city transport providers highlight the government’s focus on adopting new technology, increasing vehicle safety and comfort features, and preference towards IT enabled buses. Tata Motors will also be providing its support to the STUs to ensure that the technology benefits of these vehicles are rapidly and properly utilized.

Mr. Ravi Pisharody, Executive Director, Commercial Vehicle Business Unit, Tata Motors Ltd., said, “We are encouraged by the adoption of latest technologies by these STUs, for fleet modernization, lower total operating costs and expanding user base & ridership. We welcome the collaborative approach employed by these STUs in bettering end user needs, which will further help boost our efforts towards innovations in the public transport space.”

He also added that the company is hoping to execute all these orders in the financial year 2016-17 which will enable Tata Motors to strengthen its leadership in the passenger commercial vehicle segment.

Mr. Sandeep Kumar, Business Head, Commercial Vehicles (Passenger), Tata Motors Ltd., said, “With an extensive portfolio, we are geared up to provide a ‘win-win’ for both the operators and commuters of today and tomorrow. Having said that, we have nearly doubled our order book in FY16-17 already and are adequately prepared to cater to the current and future demand coming in for our buses.”

These orders have led to a healthy growth of over 80 percent as compared to the last year in the order book position of Tata Motors. Some of the order requirements include GPS enabled on-board ITS (intelligent transport system), public information systems, cctv cameras, on board wifi, smart multi-mode ticketing, on board diagnostics systems, HVAC and adoption of bus body code practices during body fabrication. The buses will also incorporate wider passage-ways for free movement, wider window panes for better visibility, and wider and lower entry/exit doors.

Over 1500 of the ordered buses will be fully built and integrated with these features, at Tata Motors JV manufacturing facility at Tata Marcopolo (Dharwad & Lucknow) and ACGL Goa.