Indian Government Allocated Rs. 756.66 Crore Under FAME Scheme till June 2021

The government has allocated over Rs. 756.66 crores under the FAME scheme, out of which Rs. 53.27 crores have been utilized till June 2021.

The Indian Government launched the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme on April 1, 2015, to promote electric vehicles (EV) in the country. Its second phase, FAME II, was launched on April 1, 2019, which was supposed to end by 2022, but the govt extended the scheme by two years to March 31, 2024.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises informed yesterday that the government has allocated over Rs.756.66 crore, out of which Rs.53.27 crore have been utilized under the FAME scheme till June 2021. The Minister of State for Heavy Industries, Mr. Krishan Pal Gurjar, gave this information in a written reply in Rajya Sabha.

Under Phase-I & Phase-II of the scheme, about 3.71 lakhs of EVs have been supported with a total incentive of approximately Rs.634 crore as of July 28. 2021. Further, Rs. 1000 crore have been allocated for the development of charging infrastructure in the country. Additionally, 862 Hybrid/ Electric buses have been deployed as sanctioned to various cities/states as of June 30, 2021.

The ministry has sanctioned 2,877 EV charging stations amounting to about Rs. 500 crore in 68 cities across 25 States/UTs under FAME II Scheme. Also, under the FAME I Scheme, 427 charging stations have been installed so far.

Saur Energy recently reported on a series of initiatives taken by the central and various state governments to ramp up EV adoption by propelling subsidies/incentives, tax exemptions, new EV Policies, and much more.

Some of these initiatives taken up by the government for improving the charging infrastructure required for electric vehicles in the country are:

• Ministry of Power (MoP) released a notification on charging infrastructure standards permitting private charging at residences and offices.
• Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs (MoHUA) amended the Model Building Byelaws 2016 to establish charging stations and infrastructure in private and commercial buildings.

The upfront cost of EVs is higher than that of the Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicle. However, the operational cost of EVs is lower than that of the ICE vehicles. Besides, EVs are being supported by way of demand incentives under FAME II to reduce the cost difference between EVs and ICE vehicles.

Additionally, the following initiatives have also been taken up by the Government of India:

• Demand incentive under FAME-II has been increased to Rs. 15,000/KWh from Rs. 10,000/KWh with an increase in cap from 20% to 40% of the cost of the vehicle.
• On May 12, 2021, the government approved a Production Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme for the manufacturing of Advanced Chemistry Cells (ACC) to bring down the prices of batteries in the country.
• GST on EVs has been reduced from 12% to 5%; GST on chargers/ charging stations for EVs has been reduced from 18% to 5%.
• Ministry of Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) announced that battery-operated vehicles will be given green licence plates and be exempted from permit requirements.