Making Electric Vehicle is business opportunity for next decades: Anand Mahindra

India’s lone electric car maker thinks that the concept of making environment-friendly and clean technology vehicles is business opportunity of future that can allow businesses to make money out of the nascent sector.

“This is the single biggest business opportunity for the next couple of decades”, said Anand Mahindra, Chairman of Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd, at the Bloomberg Global Business Forum in New York. “We’ve just been believers for a while, haven’t been making any money, but now the tipping point seems to be reached”, Anand added.

Earlier this week, Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., announced a partnership with Ford Motor Co. to cooperate in areas including electric and driverless autos.

Electric car maker is supplying its car in Nagpur, where the government is providing charging stations. If it runs well, then they will replicate extensively, Anand emphasized. It sells the e2o micro electric car, is looking for a joint venture partner in China. He also said that anyone not looking at these opportunities is going to miss out on growth and the only thing they need is a direction from the government.

Early this month, the Indian government had declared that it wants vehicles in India to be equipped with electricity by 2030. Minister of Road Transport & Highways Nitin Gadkari has warned automakers in the country to move to vehicles that run on electricity, biodiesel, ethanol and compressed natural gas.

China is poised to become the largest market to seek a phase-out of the internal combustion engine, following similar moves in France, the U.K. and Norway.

Last week we reported about India’s leading business groups Reliance, Adani and Hero are making plans to foray into, battery manufacturing, and battery pack assembly. Maruti Suzuki will also plant a factory in Gujarat to use India as a key global manufacturing base for selling the electric vehicle in India and abroad.

Currently, less than 1% of the 200 million vehicles on Indian roads are estimated to be electric vehicles.