In 2015, The National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) launched the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME scheme). The Electric Vehicles (EV) industry in India is booming and the government is making it more accessible through its new policies. 

“The government is continuing with the FAME subsidy to bridge the price difference in EV. We have to look at ways to bring down the price”, said Tarun Kapoor, PMO advisor at the national conference on electric mobility organised by industry body Assocham.

“Government subsidies cannot last forever. Innovation in batteries has picked up in the last few years and prices will certainly come down. We have to ensure a major shift towards public transport such as Metro and electric buses, for which the states will have to be on-board as most of the decision making is at the state level”, said the PMO’s advisor at the conference.

The government is planning to set up a payment security mechanism to ease availability of financing and it will be rolled out soon. 

Watch #EVOKPlease

“The government is clear on the importance of electric vehicles, and we have to take this as our collective agenda for the future of our country in terms of energy transition policies and plans. The basic ecosystem is coming into place, and we would have to accelerate to see the kind of numbers we would like to see. It is just a question of a little shift by the large manufacturers and motor vehicle companies,” he added.

What Is The Subsidy For Electric Vehicles

The FAME scheme was launched in two-phases, where the first phase provided direct subsidies and grants to support the research and development of the EV sector, technology enhancement and public charging infrastructure. The second phase, introduced in 2019 with a budget of Rs 10,000 crore, envisioned driving large-scale adoption of EVs, EV-related infrastructure and EV ecosystem development. 

Nishant Arya, chairman of the National Council on Green Mobility, Assocham, and Vice Chairman of JBM Group, stressed on the need to support startups and MSMEs in the EV sector to sustain the growth of electric mobility in India.

Currently, India is the third largest automobile market globally in terms of sales, ahead of Germany and Japan. In the Union Budget of 2023, the government pledged Rs 930 crore towards the policy till March 31, 2025. And it also aims  to achieve the target of 30 percent electrification of the country’s vehicle fleet by 2030.