After clocking ₹2,312 crore in 2025-26 revenue, Olectra Greentech is internally targeting turnover of around ₹4,000–4,500 crore by 2026-27, according to people aware of the company’s plans. The electric bus maker is preparing a major expansion spanning 55-tonne electric trucks, a potential BYD-linked blade battery assembly line in India and wider domestic supply-chain partnerships.
Speaking to businessline, Mahesh Babu, Managing Director of Olectra Greentech, said the company’s next growth phase would be driven by heavy commercial EVs, integrated manufacturing and energy businesses as adoption expands beyond buses into freight and industrial transportation.
“Olectra’s performance reflects our continued focus on sustained and profitable growth across both our mobility and energy businesses,” Babu said.
The Hyderabad-based company is expected to invest ₹400– crore over the next two years across new platforms and production infrastructure, while longer-term investments could range between ₹2,000 crore and ₹5,000 crore spanning products, capacity expansion and battery systems.
Beyond buses
Olectra, India’s largest electric bus maker, delivered 1,280 electric vehicles in FY26 and ended the year with an order book of 10,161 vehicles. The company is increasingly positioning itself beyond electric buses into a broader heavy commercial EV platform spanning trucks, battery systems and integrated manufacturing.
The company’s cumulative deployed EV fleet now stands at nearly 4,000 vehicles nationwide. Its energy division also recorded near-doubling growth during FY26, signalling Olectra’s broader push beyond vehicle manufacturing into adjacent clean-energy businesses.
55-tonne trailers, 38-tonne tippers bet
At the centre of Mahesh Babu’s next growth phase is Olectra’s planned entry into heavy electric trucks — an area still at a nascent stage in India but one the company believes could see rapid acceleration over the next few years.
Olectra is developing a 55-tonne electric tractor trailer and a 38-tonne electric tipper, with commercial deliveries expected to begin from the last quarter of FY27.
Unlike several EV startups focused on lighter cargo vehicles, Babu’s strategy is to begin at the heavier end of the market, where vehicles running 300–400 km daily already offer a stronger total-cost-of-ownership advantage over diesel fleets.
“We are deliberately starting from the top end because heavy-duty applications already make economic sense for electrification,” Babu said, pointing to demand emerging from mining, construction, ports and industrial transportation operators.
A key insight emerging from Olectra’s truck strategy is that financing — rather than technology — could become the biggest determinant of electric truck adoption in India.
“The primary barrier today is not viability, it is financing,” Babu said, arguing that extending commercial EV financing tenures from the current 3–4 years to 6–7 years could materially improve adoption by aligning monthly EMIs more closely with operating savings from lower fuel costs.
Olectra believes the economics of commercial EV adoption are now moving beyond buses into freight and industrial transportation, particularly in heavy-duty applications where fuel savings materially outweigh upfront costs.
India’s electric truck market remains tiny, estimated at just 600–800 units in 2025-26, but Olectra internally expects the market could cross 3,000 electric trucks annually by 2027-28–2028-29, according to people familiar with the company’s outlook.
Battery play
Alongside trucks, Olectra is also evaluating a blade battery pack assembly line in India with technology support linked to BYD, while simultaneously expanding sourcing relationships with Indian battery suppliers as part of a multi-partner strategy aimed at reducing dependence on a single technology ecosystem.
Babu clarified that BYD’s role has historically been technology-led rather than equity-led, with the relationship centred around select platform licensing and battery support. Olectra is also sourcing batteries from a domestic supplier in Pune as it widens localisation efforts amid forex volatility and geopolitical uncertainty.
Manufacturing scale-up
To support its expansion plans, Olectra has consolidated manufacturing operations at its Seetharampur Industrial Park in Shabad Mandal, Ranga Reddy district on the outskirts of Hyderabad, a 150-acre facility the company describes as among India’s largest integrated electric bus manufacturing hubs.
The company is also developing next-generation 7-metre, 9-metre and 12-metre bus platforms alongside upgraded electric coaches for intercity operations. It is investing in corrosion-resistant CED coating infrastructure aimed at improving vehicle life cycles and fleet durability.
Olectra said private operators are also increasingly adopting electric coaches. FreshBus, one of the emerging intercity electric coach operators, has already clocked over 8 lakh kilometres on Olectra’s electric coaches with high uptime, according to company executives.
MAHARASHTRA PUSH
Maharashtra remains central to Olectra’s expansion strategy. The Maharashtra government recently revoked its earlier cancellation and reinstated the company’s nearly ₹10,000 crore electric bus contract, restoring visibility to one of India’s largest state-led e-bus programmes.
Babu said Olectra has already delivered close to 1,000 buses to MSRTC from the larger 5,000-bus order and continues to ramp up supplies.
“MSRTC has no issues,” Babu said, adding that deliveries have continued steadily, including around 100 buses supplied last month alone.
However, one of the company’s BEST contracts in Mumbai continues to face an unresolved subsidy-linked issue dating back several years. While Olectra said the current BEST management is attempting to resolve the matter within the existing framework, the issue continues to remain an investor watchpoint amid rising scrutiny around receivables and state transport exposure in the electric bus sector.
Company executives said receivables have nevertheless been improving month-on-month and maintained that government contracts typically involve payment delays rather than default risks.