New Delhi: Sajjan Jindal-owned JSW Group has raced ahead of established players Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland to emerge as the lowest bidder for about 1,200 electric buses in a 4,054-bus tender, according to two executives aware of the development.
The order gives JSW a sizable foothold in a market dominated by established bus makers and newer players such as Eka Mobility and PMI Electro Mobility. The tender, part of the PM-eBus Sewa scheme, will see electric buses deployed across smaller cities and towns, giving JSW an opportunity to build a presence beyond its own plants and offices.
The win will add to the aggressive automobile expansion of the Jindal-owned conglomerate, which established its commercial-vehicle entity, JSW Greentech, in 2024. The company is a subsidiary of Sajjan Jindal-family-owned JSW Green Mobility.
“The pricing in the tender was very aggressive, with the difference between the lowest bidder and the second-lowest bidder being around 10% in many cases,” one of the executives mentioned above said.
The order will also allow JSW to diversify beyond captive demand for electric buses, with the company also targeting staff buses for its plants and offices as a major demand driver. In April, it registered 25 buses for use at a steel plant as it began its foray into the electric-bus sector.
“The entry of an established industry conglomerate like JSW Group is a positive development considering their potential to make big-ticket investments. This can be seen as a progression in their foray into India’s EV manufacturing space,” said Shyamasis Das, who heads the electric-mobility research vertical at New Delhi-based think tank Centre for Social and Economic Progress (CSEP).
While tender size is not known, electric buses in such tenders typically cost ₹1-1.25 crore. Operators procure them from the manufacturer and then run them for the state transport units, which pay them on a per-kilometer basis depending on their contract. These contracts run for more than a decade.
JSW has begun its electric-bus push with an annual capacity of 10,000 buses at its 90-acre facility in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, launching its buses under the Ampstar brand. JSW participated in the tender with its own fleet operator, JSW Eco Mobility, indicating that it will not only manufacture the buses but also operate them for more than 10 years, for which it will receive payments from the state transport units where it has won the contracts.
Bus manufacturers do not directly participate in these tenders, instead relying on bus fleet operators to apply for the contracts. After an operator wins a contract, it has to sign agreements with state transport agencies, which pay on a per-kilometre basis for a period of 10-12 years.
These operators procure buses from and tie up with companies that can help develop the infrastructure required to operate the buses.
Initially planned for 3,604 e-buses, the tender was expanded to 4,054 buses to include demand from Haryana. Other winners include PMI, which bagged 1,248 buses; clean urban transport firm Sai Green Project, which won 1,236 buses; and Eka Mobility, which won 270 buses. Software solutions firm Inventive Software Solutions Pvt. Ltd. won 100 buses.
Eka Mobility confirmed the development in an email. JSW declined to comment. Emails to , Sai Green and Inventive Software Solutions remained unanswered. Central government tendering agency Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) did not respond to emailed queries.
The PM-eBus Sewa scheme is part of the government’s push to electrify mobility and reduce dependence on imported crude oil. The shift has gained momentum as the government increasingly directs subsidies towards and trucks.
India recorded 5,356 sales in FY26, a 37% jump from the previous fiscal, according to data from the government’s VAHAN registration portal. India is the world’s third largest e-bus market by sales, according to the International Energy Agency.
These sales are being propelled by central government schemes PM E-DRIVE and PM-eBus Sewa, which together support the rollout of e-bus fleets across more than 100 cities in India. Under the scheme, the government supports the deployment of more than 14,000 e-buses across nine major cities. The PM-eBus Sewa scheme provides operational support of ₹24 per kilometre for 12-metre buses.
Legacy companies such as Tata Motors and Ashok Leyland have not managed to emerge as major winners in these tenders, which have seen newer players such as Eka Mobility and PMI Electro dominate with about two-thirds of the share in more than 20,000 electric buses tendered in the past year.