Haryana, India Jan 31, 2026 (Issuewire.com) - Ashok Leyland started 2026 with a bang. Under the leadership of Dheeraj Hinduja, executive chairman, the firm inaugurated a new integrated commercial vehicle facility in Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. Spanning across 70 acres, the plant will primarily focus on manufacturing electric vehicles. It will manufacture 2,500 electric vehicles initially, and after subsequent phases, expand to 5,000 units.
The facility’s inauguration featured political heavyweights such as Yogi Adityanath, Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh, Rajnath Singh, Minister of Defence, and H.D. Kumaraswamy, Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises. Also present on the occasion were Prakash Hinduja and Ashok Hinduja, the uncles of Dheeraj Hinduja and brothers of the late Gopichand Hinduja, Dheeraj Hinduja’s father. Prakash Hinduja is Chairman of Hinduja Group-Europe, and Ashok Hinduja is Chairman of Hinduja Group-India. The Lucknow plant embodies the vision of Dheeraj Hinduja, it goes without saying. Dheeraj Hinduja’s aim is to turn Ashok Leyland into a top 10 global commercial vehicle manufacturer. Under his leadership, the firm has built or expanded its presence in 50 countries, including nations in Asia, the Middle East, and Africa (South Sudan, Nigeria and Ethiopia, among others). At the inauguration, Dheeraj Hinduja said the Lucknow plant had been designed with future in mind, complete with advanced manufacturing and digital processes, and the flexibility to produce vehicles using electric, alternative fuel and emerging propulsion technologies.
He revealed another interesting fact at the event: that the facility took just took around 14 months to finish from land acquisition to production. As an aside, this is how new India works, folks. Fast track approvals and infrastructure delivery at speed. Gone are the days of endless government-caused delays! Also, not too long ago, India’s largest state was a dismissed as a laggard in industrial growth. Remember the concept of BIMARU states? But now Uttar Pradesh is distinguishing itself with its ‘ease of doing business’.
Shenu Agarwal, MD & CEO of Ashok Leyland, said, "As one of India's largest and most progressive states, Uttar Pradesh has demonstrated a strong and consistent commitment to environmental responsibility and sustainable development, making it a natural partner in our green mobility journey. This coupled with Ashok Leyland's ambition to achieve Net Zero by 2048 has been a key catalyst for establishing this state-of-the-art facility in Uttar Pradesh.”
The Lucknow plant is just one of the many impressive achievements of Ashok Leyland over the past year or so.
In early 2025, Ashok Leyland inaugurated a plant to manufacture electric buses and diesel buses near Vijaywada, Andhra Pradesh. This facility has a capacity of producing 4,800 buses annually. In other positive recent developments, Ashok Leyland registered a superb financial performance in Q2 FY 26, with net profit after tax (PAT) hitting an all-time high of ₹771 crores. But there’s more. Ashok Leyland’s stock price hit a 52-week high in January 2026, and its market capitalization crossed the ₹1 trillion mark for the first time.
While analysts applaud Ashok Leyland’s fantastic financial performance, Dheeraj Hinduja is already thinking about the future. He has global expansion in his sights, including deepening the firm’s presence in Africa. The African automotive market is attracting a lot of interest from global automotive manufacturers, such as Ford, Mercedes Benz, Hyundai, Toyota, and Volvo. These companies all want to expand their presence in the continent. Even Indian manufacturers, such as Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Eicher Motors, are exploring opportunities to strengthen their presence in Africa. Amid these developments, Dheera Hinduja is bolstering Ashok Leyland’s distribution in countries such as South Sudan and Ethiopia, where growing infrastructure needs and economic development will increase the demand for dependable vehicles.
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