Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd (M&M) on Wednesday said it will invest Rs 10,000 crore in the next 7-8 years to set up its proposed EV manufacturing plant in Pune. The investment has been approved under the Maharashtra government’s industrial promotion scheme for electric vehicles.

“The company, through its subsidiary, will make investments of approximately Rs 10,000 crore over a period of 7-8 years for setting up the manufacturing facility, development, and production of Mahindra’s upcoming Born Electric Vehicles (BEVs),” the company said in a regulatory filing.

Some of these BEVs were showcased at Oxfordshire, UK, on August 15, it added. In August, the company at the launch of its design centre at Oxfordshire said it would launch five electric SUVs for both the domestic and international markets, with the first four expected to hit the roads between 2024 and 2026.

In September, it had unveiled the XUV400, which will hit the market in January. The electric SUVs are based on the INGLO platform and will be launched under the XUV brand and the all-new electric-only brand “BE”.

The Mahindras and the Tatas are in the race in the EV market, with the Tatas rolling out its 50,000th EV from Pune last month. With brands such as Nexon and Tiago, Tata Motors has charted an ambitious three-phased architecture approach and plans to launch 10 models in five years.

Earlier, British International Investment (BII), the UK’s development finance institution and impact investor and M&M had executed a binding agreement to invest up to Rs 1,925 crore each into a newly incorporated wholly owned subsidiary of M&M.

India’s car market is tiny compared to its population and electric models make up just 1 per cent of the total annual car sales of about 3 million. But the government wants to grow this to 30 per cent by 2030. The tech-to-tractors Mahindra Group is in talks with global investors to raise between $250 million and $500 million for its new EV unit, valued at $9 billion in July.

With inputs from Reuters