Government Panel Proposes 2-Way Strategy to Promote EVs

The panel has recommended a lower basic customs duty on components besides a lower GST rate to encourage manufacturers to take up large-scale production of e-vehicles.

A government panel led by cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha has proposed an array of incentives for electric carmakers as well as buyers of electric vehicles in an effort to push e-mobility in the country from both the demand and supply side.

The panel has recommended a lower basic customs duty on components besides a lower GST rate to encourage manufacturers to take up large-scale production of e-vehicles.

For the buyers, it has called for differential registration rates and exemption from road tax and parking charges. According to media sources, the final decision will come from PMO after the next round of meeting which was scheduled on 9th Jan.

The blueprint was drawn up by over two dozen top bureaucrats across all stakeholder ministries that attended the committee of secretaries meeting on total mobility chaired by Sinha in December. As in when the decision will be taken, the department of revenue, the department of heavy industries and the ministry of road transport and highways will take necessary action.

The NITI Aayog is acting as a nodal agency to coordinate the roll-out of the mega-plan. The government is seized of the fact that India needs to adopt effective strategies to place itself as a key driver in the global mobility revolution, and this can be done only by large-scale domestic manufacturing of electric vehicles with all its components including batteries.

Though the government is yet to articulate a formal policy statement, all the measures are been taken to achieve the set goal of having electric vehicles account for at least 30% of the total new vehicle registrations by 2030.

Source: ET