Bajaj Can't Build Chetaks Fast Enough, and That's Good News

Representative image (AI-generated)

Bajaj is finally building Chetaks at full speed, and buyers are still ahead of it. The company now makes just over 62,000 Chetak electric scooters a month, and Joint Managing Director Rakesh Sharma says Bajaj Chetak production will rise to close to 80,000 units a month in the January–March 2027 quarter. He shared the plan at a media interaction after Bajaj's Q2 FY27 results on 27 October, as reported by Autocar Professional and Autocar India. (One industry tracker, ChannelIAM, puts current output nearer 64,000; we're going with Bajaj's own figure.)

From 40,000 to 80,000

Sharma said Bajaj had the capacity to build 60,000 Chetaks a month, but supply disruptions kept real output at about 40,000. That gap is now closed and the plant is running at full capacity. More debottlenecking in the January–March quarter should take it close to 80,000.

The climb has been steady. Bajaj said capacity touched about 50,000 a month towards the end of FY26. In July, CFO Dinesh Thapar said it would go to around 60,000. Bajaj got there.

Sharma said Bajaj is short of capacity in premium motorcycles and petrol bikes too, and is talking to a few states about a sixth plant. No location, investment or timeline has been shared yet. Bajaj also plans to widen the Chetak range over the next six months, but hasn't said what's coming.

Why demand is running ahead

The registration numbers explain it. In September 2026, Bajaj recorded around 48,400 electric two-wheeler registrations on Vahan, up from about 41,300 in August. TVS led with roughly 54,000, so the gap between India's top two e2W brands is now about 5,600 units. Every Chetak Bajaj couldn't build was a buyer it risked losing in that fight.

Sharma's bigger picture is just as bullish. He said electric scooters are now about a quarter of all scooter sales in India and could reach half within three to five years. Some states are already far ahead: he put the EV share of scooters at around 40% in Odisha and 30–35% in Maharashtra, against 10–12% in Gujarat.

A year ago the mood was very different. In July 2025, a shortage of rare-earth magnets from China cut Chetak output to just 10,824 units. Going from that to an 80,000-a-month plan in about 15 months is a strong recovery.

What this means for you

If you've been told to wait for a Chetak, especially a popular colour or variant, that wait should shrink as the extra scooters reach dealers. October registrations, due in the first week of November, will show how much of the new output is actually reaching buyers.

The EVGyan take

Having more buyers than scooters is the best kind of problem in this business. Bajaj also hit its last capacity target, which makes the 80,000 promise easier to believe. The risk is supply: disruptions have already hit the Chetak twice in about a year. If Bajaj gets to 80,000 by March, the fight for India's No. 1 electric scooter spot could get very close, very fast.