Outbidding the marquee, legacy players in the EV bus sector, new-age companies are now holding a larger chunk of the market share.
EKA was among the largest bidders by Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL), PM E-Drive scheme, sits in an interesting middle ground. Founded in 2019, it may appear like a young EV brand riding India’s decarbonisation wave. But behind it lies nearly three decades of industrial manufacturing experience through its parent, Pinnacle Industries Group. The company doesn’t quite fit the typical start-up-versus-incumbent narrative.
EKA was among the largest bidders in CESL mega tender for 10,900 electric buses across Ahmedabad (1600), Surat (1600), Bengaluru (4500), Delhi (2800), and Hyderabad (2000), alongside PMI Electro and Olectra Greentech.
The company has been scaling capital. In June 2024, it received its second tranche of ₹200 crore from Japan’s Mitsui as part of a ₹850-crore equity and technology partnership announced with Mitsui and Dutch manufacturer VDL Groep in December 2023. The partnership aims to build a leading global bus OEM based out of India.
Order book, public private partnerships
EKA had already been active in government-linked tenders. Today, it sits on an order book of over 3,000 electric buses from public-sector contracts, much of it already under execution across multiple cities and transport operators.
The company has already secured orders, including 310 e-buses under the National e-Bus Programme and a 250-bus contract from Nagpur Municipal Corporation, as well as a ₹150-crore order for 70 buses from UPSRTC. The company in the past has also won bids for CESL. In 2023, the company received a letter of allotment (LoA) for the procurement, operation, and maintenance of 310 electric buses, of the total 6,465 electric buses.
EKA is now expanding capacity sharply to fulfil PM E-Drive commitments, scaling to 10,000 buses a year by 2026 under an over ₹2,000-crore investment plan, the spokesperson added.
Alongside its government order book, the company has secured orders for around 500 electric coaches from private entities, with additional demand coming from staff transportation, school buses, institutional mobility, private stage-carriage operators and intercity applications. This diversified demand provides a buffer against the cyclical nature of large government tenders.
Capacity at a scale the market demand
EKA currently operates a dedicated electric bus manufacturing facility in Pune with an installed capacity of 2,500 buses a year. This is being expanded to 5,000 units annually by next year. In parallel, the company is building its largest electric bus plant in Pithampur, which will add another 5,000 buses of annual capacity.
By the end of 2026, EKA expects to have a total installed capacity of 10,000 electric buses per year—an aggressive scale-up aligned with the phased rollout timelines of PM E-Drive.
Backing this expansion is a capital infusion of over ₹2,000 crore, targeted at plant, machinery, technology and talent. Unlike many EV players that outsource engineering, EKA has built what it calls India’s largest R&D centre dedicated exclusively to electric commercial vehicles. Nearly 1,000 engineers and designers work across platforms, powertrain integration, software and localisation.
Across the group, the workforce now exceeds 6,000 people, giving EKA operational depth that few younger EV firms can match.
Published on December 26, 2025
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