Minister for Road Transport & Highways (MoRTH) and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Nitin Gadkari gave an account of the Government actively working to support e-mobility. The government, according to the Union Minister, is supporting e-mobility in the form of several incentives like the GST exemption, and the FAME II scheme. The Centre, for instance, increased the subsidy on electric two-wheelers. According to the Department of Heavy Industries (DHI) notification, the incentive for electric two-wheelers has been increased to Rs.15,000 per kWh, up by Rs.5,000 compared to the old subsidy. The move has led to two-wheeler manufacturers eligible for the Fame II scheme passing on the incentive to the customers by way of significant price reductions. Addressing the World Conference organised by the BRICS Network University (NU), the minister drew attention to the electric vehicle industry having a huge employment potential given that efforts are being made to establish India as the largest automobile manufacturing hub in the world. “India is a power surplus nation and e-mobility would be the most effective solution to develop import substitute, cost-effective, indigenous, pollution-free mode of transport,” he said. Speaking highly of the country’s research prowess, the Minister added, “India’s research and academic institutions like ISRO, DRDO and IITs are working hard towards the development of indigenous and low-cost battery technology for electric vehicles.” He urged the stakeholders of the industry to consider the use of low-cost raw material for the batteries and leverage the scrappage of old vehicles. The minister exuded confidence in EVs turning out to be the most affordable means of transport by way of indigenous battery technology, localisation of EV components, and the potential domestic demand. He also expressed confidence in the mass manufacturing of EVs boosting exports. In another move, MoRTH issued a draft notification, further to amend the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR), 1989 proposing to exempt Battery Operated Vehicles (BOV) from payment of fees for the purpose of issue or renewal of Registration Certificate (RC) and assignment of the new registration mark. Comments from the general public and all stakeholders have been sought within a period of thirty days from the date of issuance of this draft notification, on May 27, 2021.
