Centre floats tender for 10,900 electric buses, Bengaluru gets highest allocation

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The Centre has floated tender for 10,900 electric buses to be deployed in five major cities under the PM e-Drive scheme in a push towards decarbonising urban transport.

The tech city of Bengaluru has received the highest allocation with 4,500 buses followed by Delhi (2,800). Hyderabad will get 2,000 buses, Ahmedabad 1,000 and Surat (600).

The tender, floated by state-owned Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) on June 27, is under the Gross Cost Contract (GCC) model as per the guidelines of the heavy industries ministry.

The tender includes procurement, supply, operation, and maintenance of electric buses along with the development of charging and civil infrastructure. Bids will be opened on August 12.

Also read: Karnataka seeks 7,000 electric buses for Bengaluru under PM E-Drive

The contract is expected to draw interest from major original equipment makers (OEMs) and fleet operators due to the long-term revenue potential under the GCC model, where operators are paid per kilometre of service.

CESL said India is on the brink of an e-mobility revolution, with the Union government targeting 30 percent EV adoption by 2030 to reduce fuel imports, emissions and air pollution. Expanding the e-bus fleet is central to modernising public transport, generating employment, boosting local manufacturing, and curbing fossil fuel dependency.

The PM e-Drive scheme, with a financial outlay of Rs 10,900 crore, was notified on September 29, 2024 to be implemented from October 1, 2024, to March 31, 2026. It succeeds Phase-II of the FAME India scheme and subsumes the Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS)-2024. The scheme focuses on electric bus adoption, charging infrastructure, and EV ecosystem development.

The Centre has earmarked Rs 4,391 crore under PM e-Drive to deploy 14,028 e-buses by March 2026.

The heavy industries ministry also launched the PM e-Bus Sewa-Payment Security Mechanism (PSM) scheme, with a budget of Rs 3,435 crore, to support the deployment of more than 38,000 electric buses across India. It ensures payment security for operators in case of default by public transport authorities (PTAs) and also supports training and technology adoption.

India is taking bold strides toward sustainable urban mobility, heavy industries and steel minister HD Kumaraswamy said recently. “From Bengaluru to Delhi, cities are actively embracing electric buses to make public transport cleaner, smarter, and more efficient," he said, adding the buses would shape the future of India’s transport system through innovation and environmental consciousness.