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Shifting gears: Once land of scooters (India), now electric vehicle landscape
UP govt proposes to set up an EV park on 70-acre land of the state-owned SIL while Ashok Leyland has selected the remaining 70 acres to set up an e-bus manufacturing unit
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LUCKNOW A new beginning is being made on the abandoned patch of 140-acre land, close to the Lucknow airport, that once housed the now-closed Scooters India Limited (SIL), which manufactured the iconic Vijay Super scooters.
Vijay Super that made its mark well before the domination of ‘Hamara Bajaj’ in the two-wheeler market, was so popular that a two-wheeler of this company was gifted to each member of the Indian cricket team that won the country’s first World Cup in 1983.
Uttar Pradesh government now proposes to set up an EV park on 70-acre land of the state-owned SIL. Ashok Leyland, one of the leading commercial vehicle manufacturers in the world, has selected the remaining 70 acres of SIL land to set up an e-bus manufacturing unit.
“We propose to set up an EV park on 70 acres of the 140-acre land of SIL. Ashok Leyland is also setting up an e-bus manufacturing unit on the remaining 70 acres of this land,” said Manoj Kumar Singh, infrastructure and industrial development commissioner.
With this, the nearly 50-year-long journey of SIL will finally come to an end. Incorporated in 1972, Scooters India Limited was once considered to be the pride of Lucknow. It was situated nearly 16 km away from the heart of Lucknow. Then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi laid the foundation stone of the company’s plant on April 8, 1973. This was the time when scooters were sold in the black market at a premium. SIL had bought plant and machinery from Italy’s Innocenti, which was manufacturing Lambretta scooters then.
Scooters India Limited was conceived when Automobile Products of India (API), manufacturing Lambretta scooters in collaboration with Innocenti, decided to expand. It was going to buy the old plant of Innocenti. “This was the time when scooters of two Italian companies - Vespa and Innocenti (manufacturing Lambretta) - were being supplied all over the world. API was a Pune-based company. It had a branch in Lucknow as well. It proposed to buy Innocenti’s old plant. A proposal for a joint venture between the API, Innocenti and the government was eventually moved. Initially, scooters were assembled from kits of Italy’s Innocenti under the Lambretta brand name. SIL started commercial production in 1975 manufacturing Vijay Super scooters for the Indian market and Lambretta for the overseas market.
In 1983, when India won its first World Cup in cricket, the entire team was gifted a Vijay Super scooter. SIL later began manufacturing three wheelers under the brand names of Vikram, said Kaushal Kishor, former president of the SIL staff and officers’ association.
Kishor, who remained associated with the movement for the revival of the SIL, retired in 2012 though he worked for the company till 2014. He said the company faced financial crunch even during its initial years as the union government did not give any working capital to the company.
The company gradually became sick. In 1989, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi’s government made a move for the privatisation of SIL. This move, however, did not materialize, he said. The company also ventured into manufacturing three-wheelers. It was referred to the Board of Industrial and Financial Reconstruction in 1992, added Kishor.
In 1997, the company stopped production of two-wheelers and began focusing on manufacturing and marketing three-wheelers. As the company remained in the red, the union cabinet finally decided closure of SIL in 2021.
Anil Rastogi, a retired scientist and theatre personality of Lucknow, recollects how Lucknowites used to take pride in having SIL that manufactured the Vijay Super. Rastogi, who has experience of riding the Vijay Super, said the quality of the vehicle was considered good in initial years, but it deteriorated gradually. He said the company incurred losses and its closure led to unemployment in Lucknow.
