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Amid recurring threats of trade tariffs by US President Donald Trump, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday emphasised setting new records on exports in different sectors. Speaking at the Economic Times World Leaders Forum in Delhi, Modi said that India’s automobile export has increased significantly.
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“Till 2014, India used to export automobiles worth around Rs 50,000 crore. Today India is exporting automobiles worth Rs 1.2 lakh crore in a year. Today we have started exporting everything from metro coaches, rail coaches to locomotives. By the way, since I have come amongst you, let me tell you about another success of India. India is now going to export electric vehicles to 100 countries of the world. A major event related to this is scheduled for August 26,” said Modi.
On August 26, Modi will inaugurate and flag off the ‘e VITARA’ — Maruti Suzuki’s first global strategic battery electric vehicle (BEV), at the Suzuki Motor plant in Hansalpur, Ahmedabad. Officials said that these BEVs will be even exported to advanced markets like Europe and Japan.
Along with this, the Prime Minister will also inaugurate the next phase of India’s battery ecosystem with the start of local production of hybrid battery electrodes at the TDS Lithium-Ion Battery plant in Gujarat. The plant, a joint venture of Toshiba, Denso and Suzuki, is expected to boost domestic manufacturing and clean energy innovation. With this, more than 80 per cent of the battery value will now be manufactured within India.
Maruti Suzuki is India’s largest car manufacturer. With an existing capacity of producing 26 lakh units per year at its four plants in India, the company’s export share has increased to over 3 lakh units. In FY25, Maruti Suzuki exported over 3.32 lakh units and sold 19.01 lakh units in the domestic market.
In January 2025, the company unveiled its first battery electric vehicle SUV — the e VITARA at the Bharat Mobility Global Expo 2025 in New Delhi.
The company will begin the commercial production of the EV from August 26 in its plant in Hansalpur, Ahmedabad. It is also India’s first plant which has an automobile Gati Shakti Multimodal Cargo Terminal or railway siding for transportation of the cars. It has a dispatch capability of 3 lakh vehicles annually at full capacity. Some of Maruti Suzuki’s key models such as Baleno, Swift, Dzire etc. are manufactured at the Gujarat Plant. Modi will also flag off a car-loaded freight train service from the plant. A senior official of the Ministry of Railways said that currently a total of three trains are already running from the plant, which transports on an average 600 cars per day.
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“After the production of EVs at full scale, Railways will provide rakes with special wagons namely BCACBM, ACT1 and ACT2 for the supply of Electric Vehicles for export. Currently, the existing car models of Maruti Suzuki such as Baleno, swift are being transported from here. We already have connectivity to the Mundra port, so it will facilitate the export in a cheaper, safer and faster manner,” said the official.
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
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