State-owned Convergence Energy Services Ltd (CESL) will open a mega tender next month to procure 10,900 electric buses for deployment in cities including Hyderabad, Surat, Ahmedabad, Delhi, and Bengaluru, marking a major step in India’s clean mobility mission.

The tender, opening on 6 November 2025, represents a key milestone under the National Electric Bus Programme (NEBP), which aims to create sustainable, zero-emission public transport networks across urban India.

CESL, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) and the government’s nominated agency for aggregating and procuring electric buses, confirmed that several domestic and international manufacturers and operators participated in the pre-bid meetings. The company also stated that it has addressed a significant number of pre-bid queries raised by potential bidders.

The tender spans multiple cities and union territories, covering both air-conditioned and non-air-conditioned buses across various formats, including Standard Floor, Low Floor, and Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) models.

Under the proposed allocation, Hyderabad will receive around 2,000 buses, Surat and Ahmedabad together will add 1,600, Delhi will induct 2,800, and Bengaluru will see the largest addition with 4,500 buses.

Once awarded, successful bidders will sign agreements with respective City Transport Undertakings (CTUs) to ensure smooth deployment, operation, and maintenance. Operators will also be responsible for setting up charging depots, hiring local drivers and technicians, and maintaining strict service-level agreements (SLAs) for uptime, energy efficiency, and passenger comfort.

The project places particular emphasis on gender inclusion, encouraging the recruitment of women drivers and maintenance engineers, thereby promoting diversity and local employment in the electric mobility sector.

According to CESL, the large-scale rollout will significantly reduce carbon emissions, noise pollution, and improve urban air quality. Each electric bus replacing a diesel counterpart is expected to help cut over 4 million tonnes of CO? emissions annually during the project’s lifetime.

The procurement follows CESL’s aggregation-based model under a Gross Cost Contract (GCC) framework, where private operators will own, operate, and maintain the buses while city authorities pay a fixed per-kilometre fee. This approach minimises financial pressure on local governments while accelerating the adoption of e-buses.

CESL has previously led several successful rounds of electric bus procurement under the FAME-II scheme and the National E-Bus Programme, facilitating the acquisition of thousands of e-buses for state transport undertakings across India.