To fulfill (or seemingly exceed) his $10 billion commitment to India, SoftBank chief executive Masayoshi Son has a brilliant and ambitious action plan. He is looking to launch our country on the path of sustainability with the generous contribution of a million electric cars to Ola drivers.
Masayoshi Son is currently on a two-day trip to India, where he’s already met with our esteemed PM Narendra Modi. But he has also met with the founders of the successful ventures SoftBank has invested in over the past couple years. He is now scheduled to meet with some of the senior ministers of the country.
Talking about his ambitious outlook with ETtech, Son stated that he wishes to give away a million electric cars, manufactured in India, to drivers working at Ola for free. The chief exec is mulling over the decision because of the deadly problem of increasing pollution and to further ingeminate his support for the homegrown ride-hailing giant. Also, this will enable Ola to drive their vision of creating over 5 million skilled jobs in the country.
For those unaware, Japanese tech behemoth ‘SoftBank’ is the largest investor in our country’s largest cab aggregator Ola. The partnership which started in 2014, thanks to former President Nikesh Arora, has only strengthened over the period of time. Now, SoftBank is looking to pump additional capital into Ola, who is most likely going for a down round to continue its inquisition against the $63 billion American ride-hailing giant Uber.
The founder of Japan’s largest internet and telecom conglomerate reiterates that his plan to drive sustainability is a wish and not a commitment just yet. The execution of the said electric vehicle project, he says, will ultimately end on the shoulders of several stakeholders – the local and central governments, vendors and Ola itself. If everyone is agreed with the decision of driving this revolution and further supporting the ‘Make In India’ program, then the wish could turn into a reality.
But our country would also be required to set up giant solar fields (one of the world’s largest has already started operating) and generate 20-gigawatt solar energy in the coming years. This, son believes, would enable him to keep his word and drive a $10 billion investment into India over 10 years.
If this ambitious plan, however, comes into action then India would be one of the few nations leading the sustainability revolution. Electric car production, with certain incentives, could also drive conglomerates from across the globe to manufacture their vehicles in the country.
