In the largest EV asset financing deal in India, the Power Finance Corporation Ltd (PFC) on Thursday sanctioned a loan of Rs 633 crore to Gensol Engineering Ltd (GEL) for purchase of 5,000 passenger electric vehicles (EVs) and 1,000 cargo EVs.
The passenger EVs will be leased to BluSmart Mobility Pvt Ltd (BMPL) to expand its fleet of ride-hailing cabs. The first tranche of the loan has been disbursed and the first lot of EV cabs has hit the roads of Delhi, the corporation said in a statement.
"E-mobility adoption is going on at a fast pace in the country. Through this funding, PFC has endeavoured to contribute towards India's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) goals and this will go a long way for moving towards a healthy and sustainable mode of transport," PFC Chairman and Managing Director Ravinder Singh Dhillon said.
The 5,000 e4Ws funded by PFC are likely to result in emission savings of over 1,00,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent -- equivalent to the amount of CO2 absorbed by over 5 million fully grown trees in a year.
BluSmart has the largest fleet of electric cabs and the largest network of EV fast charging stations across Delhi NCR and Bengaluru.
The company has completed more than 5 million all-electric trips, covering over 185 million clean kms with over 1.7 million plus app downloads.
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BluSmart has raised $75 million (in equity and venture debt) by BP Ventures, Mayfield, Survam Partners, and 9Unicorn fund among others.
Also, it secured EV asset financing of total $150 million by DFIs, including financing funds of $35 million from the IREDA.
"India is set to play a pivotal role in driving global disruption in the electric mobility sector. We are excited with this financing through PFC which will help us deploy more EVs on the streets of our cities and continue to build on our vision to create a unique customer experience through electric mobility in India," said Anmol Singh Jaggi, CEO and Co-founder of BluSmart.
With this sanction, PFC is supporting the government's vision of reducing dependency on fossil fuel, promoting electric mobility in the country and contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions from the transportation sector.
--IANS
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