Centre Offering Incentives To EV Industry To Help Bring Down Carbon Emissions: PM Modi

New Delhi, Sept 6 (KNN) In order to achieve India’s goal of bringing down carbon emissions, the government is offering various incentives for the electric vehicle (EV) industry, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Moneycontrol in an interview.

“The government has been working on providing incentives for the electric vehicle industry. The industry has responded with greater innovation and the people are responding to it with greater openness to try the alternative,” he said.

This comes at the backdrop of the Indian government working on a new EV policy that would slash import taxes for companies that commit to some local manufacturing.

The policy being considered could allow automakers to import fully-built EVs into India at a reduced tax as low as 15 percent, compared to the current 100 percent that applies to fully-built cars that cost above USD 40,000 and 70 percent for the rest, reported Moneycontrol.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries in June 2023 had decided to slash the subsidy on electric two-wheelers under the FAME II scheme to Rs 10,000 per kWh from the Rs 15,000 per kWh.

Apart from reducing the per kWh incentive by Rs 5,000, the ministry also reduced the maximum subsidy cap of 40 percent of the ex-factory price of the vehicle to 15 percent. Despite the subsidy cuts, the EV industry has been seeing a great adoption.

As per the government’s Vahan website, retail sales of EVs across the two-, three- and four-wheeler (car and SUV) segments along with goods- and passenger-carrying commercial vehicles in July 2023 totalled 115,836 units.  (KNN Bureau)