NHEV reached out to IREDA and PFC before placing EV fleet order to BluSmart
National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) has raised concerns placing an order with BluSmart, amidst recent allegations surrounding the electric vehicle ride-hailing company's officials.
ANI
Apr 20, 2025 19:15 IST
New Delhi [India], April 20 (ANI): National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) has raised concerns placing an order with BluSmart, amidst recent allegations surrounding the electric vehicle ride-hailing company's promoters.
Anmol Singh Jaggi and Puneet Singh Jaggi, promoters of Gensol Engineering, face a capital market ban and charges of fund diversion. The brothers are also promoters of ride-hailing service company BluSmart.
On Friday, Ethical Governance Committee and NHEV - Procurement Committee held a meeting with other relevant Working Group Members from Annuity Hybrid E-Mobility (AHEM) - Financing Banks and their counterpart representative from Process Committee to ensure financial health of partners, and service providers.
National Highways for Electric Vehicles (NHEV) is a pilot program adopted by the central government; initially supported by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry to upgrade highways into e-highways.
"In the current scenario, placing an order with BluSmart poses certain risks, and it is inevitable that the NHEV pilot seeks intervention from the Piloting Agency, Ease of Doing Business, to ensure that the positive characteristics of future mobility--on which BluSmart's selection for participation was originally based--remain intact," per a statement put out by Ease of Doing Business after the meeting.
Abhijeet Sinha, National Program Director, Ease of Doing Business chaired the meeting.
"The positivity must be protected for electric mobility industry regardless of any change in management, board, or any other measures/ actions that regulatory bodies may eventually decide upon due to the irregularities that have surfaced," the statement added.
To qualify for order the electric fleet company has also fulfilled the demanding NHEV intercity parameters by inducting long-range SUVs--first during the tech trials and subsequently continuing with intercity EV fleet operations, the statement added.
At the meeting, they decided that the Ease of Doing Business will reach out to Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to join a mutually beneficial joint meeting to exercise either of the following two alternatives as NHEV has vested interest in either protecting original participant's technical competence and customer satisfaction standards or spend on Technical Trial and procurement to find replacement.
The two public sector enterprises - IREDA and PFC -- loaned Rs 977 crore to Gensol between 2021-22 and 2023-24, as per SEBI's preliminary findings. Out of Rs 977.75 crore, availed by the Company from IREDA and PFC as term loans, Rs 663.89 Crore was for purchasing 6,400 Electric Vehicles.
At Friday's meeting, Ease of Doing Business has placed a formal query before the Power Finance Corporation (PFC) and the Indian Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to know their willingness to join a mutually beneficial joint meeting.
As per the statement, the purpose of this meeting will be to exercise one of the following two alternatives, as NHEV has no vested interest in the company. But it has interest in either protecting the original participant's technical competence and customer satisfaction standards, or to avoid technical trials and fresh procurement to identify a suitable replacement
Among the two alternatives to be proposed during the joint meeting is IREDA and PFC to rely on Blusmart plans to do whatever internal, rental and financial adjustment excercised by their board to come out clean (from ongoing regulatory bodies inquiries and actions on irregularities) and financially healthy to repay loans and deliver SPEDMM orders to NHEV where the nationwide expansion shall be done on recent directions of Ministry of Cooperation, in various local Cooperative Taxi Service units eventually absorbing IREDA and PFC fleets too.
The second proposal would be IREDA and PFC are to rely on BluSmart's plans to undertake all necessary internal, rental, and financial adjustments as exercised by their board, in order to emerge clean from ongoing regulatory inquiries and actions related to irregularities. These adjustments are also intended to ensure BluSmart's financial health to repay loans and successfully deliver SPEDMM orders to NHEV, if placed. NHEV nationwide expansion shall proceed in line with the recent directions of the Ministry of Cooperation, Govt of India, to form various local Cooperative Taxi Service units to run cab and fleet operation locally; which will eventually absorb IREDA and PFC fleets as well in co-operative model.
Ease of Doing Business said it has offered and assured all necessary services from NHEV to exercise the above-mentioned resolutions. (ANI)
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