Chinese enterprises refuse to pay deposits!India may be preparing to turn to the United States and jointly realize the "tram plan".
It is understood that India** has recently promoted the use of clean energy nationwide in order to fulfill the "decarbonization commitment" of climate protection, trying to get rid of the traditional "high pollution model". In addition to making progress in the solar sector, last year, India announced the introduction of 10,000 electric buses in 169 cities over the next 10 years to replace conventionally fueled buses. While the plan is in full swing, India faces a major challenge: how to procure more than 9,700 electric vehicles, putting pressure on the fiscal plan.
According to sources, Modi commissioned the Indian state-owned energy efficiency service agency to find a partner, which had tried to reach a purchase agreement with China's BYD in the first half of this year, requiring a 10% deposit (about 2.).100 million RMB) to purchase all 1,000 electric buses. However, the Chinese side rejected the request, which caused dissatisfaction in India** and some investment institutions, who publicly countered that BYD had "damaged India's reputation" and said they would boycott it. Subsequent reports suggest that India's state-owned Energy Efficiency Services*** does not appear to be continuing to seek further cooperation with China, which appears to be looking for partners in other countries, despite the fact that Chinese electric vehicles are more cost-effective.
Recent reports have pointed out that Modi's "tram plan" has received a response from the United States. At the meeting during COP28, the United States and India** reached an agreement that the United States** and private companies were willing to provide a total of 3$900 million subsidy to settle an order for 50,000 electric buses in India. US Special Envoy for Climate John Kerry affirmed this, emphasizing the need for the US and India to "jointly address the decarbonization challenge and the climate crisis". According to speculation, this subsidy may be the first reduction when US companies deliver finished cars to India, rather than in the form of cash payment.
However, industry analysts believe that this move faces three main challenges. First of all, if the United States provides 50,000 buses as agreedThe $900 million reduction, even if the reduction is still higher than the import from China, will become a "loss-making business";Second, it is difficult for India's finances to make a one-time payment, so US companies may refuse to accept the deposit payment, and how to raise funds has become a key issueFinally, if the United States were to get heavily involved in India's "tram plan", it would cause serious damage to the development of India's local electric bus manufacturers, whose top two electric bus manufacturers currently have cooperation with China, but their order production cannot keep up with demand due to capacity issues.
It is worth mentioning that last month it was reported that BYD plans to create a joint venture with India's infrastructure giant Megha to create a new energy company, with an investment of up to one billion US dollars, which is expected to solve India's pressing production capacity problems. However, India rejected BYD's investment on "security" grounds.
India** pointed out that Modi**'s relationship with Chinese companies is becoming more and more "incompatible", showing a trend of antagonism. Some commentators believe that the most important task for India at present is to urgently improve its competitiveness in order to prevent a huge loss of the domestic market, regardless of ideological issues, and not to think too much about which country to cooperate with. Even if they turn to the United States, they may not be able to gain the trust of American companies due to business reputation problems.