While Hero Electric was once among the preferred options, controversies related to dealers and alleged FAME II subsidy misappropriation have dented the brand’s reputation
It is commendable that Hero Electric was among the first businesses to offer electric two-wheelers in India. The company had launched its operations around 2009. Someone at Hero Electric had the vision to foresee that electric vehicles are the future of the automotive world.
Hero Electric website down
It is important to note that Hero Electric is a completely distinct entity and should not be confused with Hero MotoCorp. The latter is primarily focused on ICE two-wheelers, although VIDA electric scooter is also available. Talking about Hero Electric, the official website (heroelectric.in) is down for around two weeks. There’s evidence to support that with the help of Web Archives. Hero Electric’s website currently shows the ‘503 Service Temporarily Unavailable’ error message.
While this can happen to any website due to technical issues, Hero Electric’s website going offline for several days is quite intriguing. Conversations on Hero Electric’s X handle are also pretty sparse, with the last update posted in June 2024. Finding relevant links about Hero Electric on search engines has also become quite challenging. When there are no or limited updates from a website or brand, search engines adjust the rankings accordingly. And even for links that are available, the 503-error message is displayed.
Hero Electric – What went wrong?
Hero Electric was doing pretty good just a few years back. In 2022, the company had reported its best ever annual sales of 100,123 units. Hero Electric had ambitious plans to produce 5 million EVs in three years. The company was expanding its charging network in collaboration with its partners. New facilities were also being planned such as the 170-acre plant in Salarpur industrial area in Rajasthan. The company had also partnered with multiple NBFCs to provide easy finance options to its customers.
Troubles for Hero Electric started when its name came up in alleged FAME subsidy misappropriations. FAME subsidy was meant for components manufactured locally. It was alleged that Hero Electric had claimed subsidy on parts that were imported. Other EV brands were also involved in similar cases, some of whom decided to return the subsidy amount. But Hero Electric challenged the allegations made by the investigative agencies. The company even made a counter claim and demanded Rs 556 crore from the government. According to Hero Electric, this amount was the pending subsidy for past EV sales.
Trouble with dealers
Earlier this year, Hero Electric dealers had protested against the company for alleged pending payments of Rs 500 crore. The dealers said that they have not received any payment in the past two years. Responding to the allegations, Hero Electric had said that the issues will be resolved by December 2024.
SFIO raids
In the latest development, the Serious Fraud Investigation Office (SFIO) has raided Hero Electric premises in connection with the FAME subsidy misappropriation case. Raids were also conducted at Benling India and Okinawa. Benling India website is currently showing as “Account Suspended”. It is not certain if this is linked to the search operations conducted by SFIO. According to SFIO, subsidies of around Rs 297 crore have been misappropriated. During the search operations, SFIO has confiscated various account books, digital data and other potential evidence.
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