Asian Tech Press (Mar. 22) -- Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor Corp. (SMC) announced an investment of approximately 150 billion yen ($1.26 billion) to drive its electric vehicle (EV) business in India.

The automaker said in a statement that it had signed a MOU with Gujarat,a state on India's western coast, to invest approximately 150 billion yen "for local manufacturing of electric vehicles (BEV) and BEV batteries."

The investment will be realized by Suzuki Motor Gujarat Pvt Ltd (SMG), Suzuki's wholly owned subsidiary in India, which marks Suzuki's major move into local EV industry.

Under the MoU, SMG will invest 31 billion rupees to increase the production capacity for battery electric vehicles (BEVs) by 2025, and also commit 73 billion rupees to build an EV battery plant in 2026.