New Delhi, May 22 -- India's electric-bus rollout under two central government schemes is nearing completion, with Karnataka, Maharashtra and Delhi accounting for the largest share of allocations, while Uttar Pradesh received no buses and Bihar was allotted 400, according to parliamentary data analysed by Mint. As much as 98% of the buses planned under the PM E-Drive and PM E-bus Sewa programmes have now been tendered, the data showed, effectively bringing the government's push to electrify state-run bus fleets into its final phase and shaping how electric buses will enter urban transport over the next decade under long-term contracts. Data on the e-buses tendered under the PM E-Drive by the ministry of heavy industries and the PM E-bus Sewa by the ministry of housing and urban affairs showed Karnataka (5,250 e-buses), Maharashtra (4,109 e-buses), and Delhi (2,800 e-buses) leading the chart. The country's most populous state Uttar Pradesh did not win any bus under the schemes while Bihar won only 400 buses. The contribution of these states is important to note given their large population and high dependence on public transport. Meanwhile, Arunachal Pradesh, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Manipur, Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu all have received only 50 e-buses each, with Ladakh receiving 48, and Andaman & Nicobar getting 45, the data showed. Tenders under these central schemes assume importance as these state-run buses will ply on Indian roads for at least the next decade, since these are long-term contracts. The first PM E-Drive tender for 10,900 e-buses closed in November 2025, while the second for 2,900 e-buses closed in April this year. With procurement largely complete, the spotlight now shifts to ensuring these buses operate at full capacity safely for the 10-12 year duration of these long-term contracts, according to domain experts. Shyamasis Das, who heads the electric mobility research vertical at New Delhi-based think tank Centre for Social and Economic Progress, said the next step is ensuring that these buses do not run empty, and people choose public transportation over private vehicles. "This can be done by effective route planning, as many existing routes are based on old commuter data. The patterns of origin-to-destination (OTD) should cater to demand of consumers, along with ensuring that different modes of public transport complement each other," he said. Queries emailed to the Union ministries of heavy industries and housing and urban affairs, and state transport departments of Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Delhi as well as other states on 20 May remained unanswered. The funding structure is also shaping how the transition unfolds. PM E-Drive scheme provides an upfront subsidy of 20-35% of the cost of an e-bus, while the PM E-bus Sewa covers a significant portion of the per-kilometre operating cost of each bus, based on its size. The ministry of heavy industries said in March that 6,228 e-buses under the PM E-bus Sewa scheme had been tendered in a written parliamentary response. Another 3,604 e-buses will be tendered by 5 June this year under the PM E-bus Sewa scheme, according to a tender floated by the government's clean energy agency Convergence Energy Services Ltd....