JSW taps KKR to drive in MG Motors JV with $400 mn investment

US private equity group KKR is in discussions with the shareholders of JSW MG Motors India to invest up to $400 million in the three-year old joint venture, said people in the know, to ride the demand upswing of electric vehicles in the country that has seen a sharp spike this year since the commencement of the Iran conflict.

The investment is said to be a combination of primary equity infusion into the company to fund its growth plans as well as a secondary sale of shares involving a sell down by the Chinese shareholder in the venture, automaker SAIC Motor. The company is expecting a valuation of $3 billion (Rs 28,380 crore), with translates to a 100% bump up since the JV came into existence.

Also Read | JSW MG Motor India EV sales jump 66% to 62,591 units in FY26

If successful, this will be the first round of external equity fund raising by India’s third largest electric passenger carmaker, since the Sajjan Jindal-led JSW forged a $1.5 billion joint venture with SAIC-owned MG Motor India in March 2024. It will also be the second instance of global institutional capital backing an Indian electric vehicle enterprise, following TPG and Mubadala’s $1 billion equity infusion into Tata Group’s Indian EV arm in 2021.

However, there is still no guarantee that the ongoing negotiations will lead to a transaction yet, the people mentioned above added. In the last decade, KKR and JSW have engaged several times for bankrolling various initiatives of the sprawling $23 billion conglomerate for both equity and structured credit.

A JSW MG Motors spokesperson declined to comment on speculation. KKR remained unavailable for comment. SAIC could not reached.

Also Read | Tata Motors, Mahindra lead the pack as EV sales surge 79%

In May 2026, Reuters reported that SAIC would sell a 10% stake out of their 49% ownership in the venture. JSW Group owns 35% along with other Indian financial institutions, dealers and employees owning the residual 16% making it majority Indian owned.

In July 2025, JSW Group Director Parth Jindal told ET that the group plans to increase its stake in JSW MG Motor in tranches as Chinese partner SAIC was unwilling to commit additional capital to the India venture, choosing instead to prioritise investments in its home market and Europe. The proposed transactions would make JSW the single-largest shareholder in the company, although Jindal did not specify the size of the additional stake.

Search for capital

The company had set in motion a $350 million capital raise plan, ET had earlier reported last April following a financial turnaround of the venture and the runaway success of the Windsor EV, a crossover utility vehicle which had the Tata Nexon EV as the largest selling model in the country in less than a year of its launch. While no deals arose at that point, the recent demand boom has revived investor interest.

Driven by the success of the Windsor EV, JSW MG Motor India ended FY26 with a 73% jump in EV volumes, cementing its position as the country’s second-largest electric vehicle maker by volume after Tata Motors. It sold 53,089 units in the fiscal. The launch of “Battery-as-a-Service” (BaaS) plan in September 2024, had also helped the company to improve its sales numbers. The plan allows consumers to rent batteries for faster EV adoption reducing the upfront cost of EV ownership. The BaaS plan charged Rs 3.5 / km with a minimum monthly usage fee, addressing affordability concerns associated with electric vehicles.

The company crossed the $1 billion (Rs 8780 crore at Rs 84.57 to a dollar exchange rate) revenue mark in FY25, but net losses had widened to Rs
1,096 crore on account of expansion and electrification costs. In FY24, it had registered its first ever operating profit of Rs 2.91 crore.

In April 2026, the company ceded its second spot to M&M with competition intensifying as legacy players including Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai as well as new entrants such as VinFast have been flooding the market with mass market launches. Industry watchers say, in comparison, the absence of significant new lineups has hampered JSW MG’s sales in recent quarters. It’s market share during the first two months of FY27 declined to 19.8%, from 29.8% in the corresponding period a year earlier. In contrast, Mahindra & Mahindra’s share increased to 22.8% from 21%.

Accelerated launches

To reverse plateauing sales, the company has announced expanding its product portfolio with three to four new launches planned in calendar year (CY) 2026, including a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV). Currently the company offers 3 internal combustion engine (ICE) sports utility vehicles and 5 EVs, ranging from the Comet micro car to the super premium Cyberster roadster. This coincides with a near Rs 3700 crore investment plan over the next two years towards plant expansion, new product introductions and other capital expenditures.

The existing Halol plant in Gujarat, currently has an annual production capacity of about 1.2 lakh units that is scheduled to expand to 3 lakh units in phases. A greenfield second facility is also being planned in the same state, close to the current unit. The company expects new energy vehicles (NEVs), which include both EVs and hybrids to account for close to two thirds of its total passenger vehicle sales in India by CY30. Its board has also ratified plans to raise its localisation levels to 70 percent across its ICE and EV range. Anurag Mehrotra, MD of JSW MG Motors India told ET in February the company was evaluating multiple financing instruments to raise capital adding that the ongoing funding of operations has been through internal accruals but would raise external capital as work on its second plant gained momentum later in the year.

Electric car sales in India have been advancing at a fast pace galloping in high double digits since the beginning of the calendar year. Shares of electric cars in the broader car market rose to a record 6.6% in May while sales grew 81% to a record 26,682 units in May over the same month last year, according to Federation of Automobile Dealers Associations. It has more than doubled from 13,733 units in February when the war with Iran commenced.

JSW Group has been doubling down on its automobile aspirations. Independent of the MG venture, it is also looking to build a its own branded passenger vehicle business, under JSW Motors and expects to launch its first model, a plug-in hybrid SUV based on the Cherry Holding Group’s Jetour T2, this festive season. EVs based on the Jaecoo J5 and iCar V23 platforms are are also under development.