High volatility likely in near term due to massive spike in commodity prices: Ashok Leyland Chairman

As part of the company’s commitment to clean emission vehicles, Ashok Leyland has also developed a roadmap covering CNG, LNG, hydrogen, fuel cell and battery electric vehicles to cater to different applications and customer needs.

“Moving forward, our assessment is that the volatility in environment in the near term will be high. The Russia-Ukraine war has triggered massive spikes in crude oil, food, and commodity prices,” Hinduja said.

Globally, inflation has become a major concern, he said, adding, “Supply chain disruptions, including chip shortages, are expected to continue.”

Commenting on the company’s future product plans, he said, “With our commitment to clean emission vehicles, we have developed a roadmap covering CNG, LNG, hydrogen, fuel cell and battery electric vehicles to cater to different applications and customer needs.”

Action is already on to extend CNG and LNG across the full range of trucks and buses, he added.

Hinduja further said, “We are pursuing a proactive approach to develop technologies in the areas of safety, digital, and green energy.”

In safety, the company is working on enabling various levels of Advanced Drive Assistance Systems and plans to roll out these products over the next three years.

“We are closely engaged with key technology partners and customers to enable the development and deployment of these features. In parallel, we are working on developing an ecosystem to enable the customers to deploy the green energy vehicles as well,” Hinduja said.

On electric vehicles, it has been structured as a separate business for bus and LCVs under Switch Mobility and significant progress has been made in India, UK, and Spain.

“Switch is actively participating in several EV related market opportunities in India and abroad,” he added.

Highlighting the company’s Environment, Social and Governance (ESG) targets, Hinduja said, “Our sustainability initiatives focus on net zero carbon footprint and positive water balance. Our CSR programme ‘Road to School’ covers today 969 schools with about 1,00,000 children benefiting from this initiative.”

This initiative is focusing on improving the quality of education, health, nutrition, social and civic awareness amongst children from government schools.

“Our target is to reach 1 million students as soon as possible,” he said.