Warren Buffet-Backed BYD Eyes 40% Market Share In India As EV Sales Zip Past 1M In South Asian Nation

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway BRK BRK backed Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD Manufacturing Company Limited BYDDY BYDDF is eyeing a larger share in the Indian market. 

What Happened: BYD‘s senior vice-president of the India unit, Sanjay Gopalakrishnan, in an interview at India Auto Expo 2023, said the company is planning for a 40% share in India's EV market by 2030, as the company rushes to compete with a slew of auto giants in the world's fourth-biggest automotive industry.

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"Being a global manufacturer, we have to keep aggressive goals," Gopalakrishnan said, adding that India is a top bet because "people are realizing the need for EVs and the charging infrastructure is picking up," reported Bloomberg.

Gopalakrishnan said BYD, which entered India in 2007, will launch its third electric model, the Seal luxury sedan, by the last quarter of 2023.

In the past year, India saw a rapid shift toward electric vehicles as fuel prices skyrocketed in the country. In 2022, the country sold more than one million EVs for the first time in a year, according to Mint. Simply put, every 20th vehicle registered in India in 2022 was an EV.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council on Energy, Environment and Water has also painted a glossy picture of the EV market's prospects in the country. The council says by 2030, a million four-wheelers and nearly 13 million two-wheelers sold annually are expected to be EVs. 

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