Asian equities are higher today as Japanese and Hong Kong shares show gains. The Nikkei 225 is up 1.20% while the Hang Seng is up 0.61%. The Shanghai Composite is trading up by 0.45%. The US markets were closed on Monday for a holiday.

Back home, Indian share markets have opened on a flattish note. The BSE Sensex is trading higher by 27 points while the NSE Nifty is trading higher by 1 point. The BSE Mid Cap Index and BSE Small Cap index both opened the day down by 0.2%.

Sectoral indices have opened the day on a mixed note with metal stocks and capital goods stocks witnessing maximum buying interest. While, PSU stocks and healthcare stocks leading the losses. The rupee is trading at 63.91 to the US$.

Automobile stocks opened the day on a mixed note with M&M & Escorts leading the losses. In light of the government’s strong push for electric vehicles, Mahindra & Mahindra is planning to invest Rs 9 billion over next four years as it seeks to bring out efficient electric vehicles (EVs).

Reportedly, the company has already invested Rs 6 billion in EVs over the past five-six years and has decided to invest Rs 4 billion in Karnataka and Rs 5 billion in Maharashtra over the next four-five years.

Further, the company will be doing all parts of the EV play, except batteries, which require greater volumes for local manufacturing and so they will have to be imported. This investment is likely to ramp up its first installed capacity to 5,000 units a month, the company stated.

The auto major has a capacity of 400 units a month, which would go up to 1,500, including three-wheelers by this September-end and the company should be capable of rolling out 4,000 units by December 2019, the reports noted.

Rahul Shah, Co-head of Research, offered his views on electric vehicles segment recently. Here’s an excerpt of what he wrote: