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Ashok Leyland gets order for 2,932 buses

Ashok Leyland, India's second largest bus and truck maker, said on Tuesday it had won orders for 2,932 bus chassis after a court ordered bus operators in the national capital Delhi to switch to cleaner fuels.

The orders are worth about Rs 3.1 billion.

"We have a total order for 1,702 buses from the private sector and 1,230 from the Delhi Transport Corporation," Amol Sandil, executive director marketing at Ashok Leyland Ltd, said.

The Supreme Court ordered in March that Delhi buses would have to start running on compressed natural gas fuel instead of diesel by the end of September to combat rising pollution.

Sandil said the company had also won orders to convert 180 existing diesel buses to compressed natural gas. Up to the end of March, it had already delivered 271 buses to the private sector and 610 to the DTC.

"The balance is 2,051 buses, to be delivered until September 30," Sandil said. He estimated the value of the 2,051 buses at over Rs 2.2 billion.

India's largest commercial vehicle maker, Tata Engineering and Locomotive Company Ltd, said last week it had won orders for 4,590 bus chassis following the court order.

Ashok Leyland, the flagship of the British-based Hinduja group, sold 11,778 buses in the 11 months to February, 14.9 per cent higher than in the same year-earlier period.

The company's shares were up 2.9 per cent at Rs 45.45 in morning trades at the Bombay Stock Exchange, while the Sensex was up 1.03 per cent at 3,285.43.

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