Incentives Announced For Electric Vehicle Buyers As India Pushes Towards 15 Per Cent Target

In a move to push the share of electric vehicles up to 15 per cent in total vehicle sales in the next five years, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has formulated a list of non-fiscal incentives to ensure that electric vehicles (EVs), reports Mint.

Minister Nitin Gadkari was speaking at the 58th convention of the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), where he said EVs account for less than 1 per cent of total vehicle sales in the country.

Earlier this year, the government had scrapped a plan to subsidise personal EVs. Unlike China, which has offered subsidies and incentives to promote EVs to reduce dependence on oil imports, India lacks a clear policy and had been lagging behind in adoption of EVs.

“Electric vehicles attract 12 per cent GST and no further subsidies are needed and we don’t have any intention of subsidising personal vehicles. The non-fiscal incentives that we will announce will increase sales of electric vehicles to 15 per cent of total sales. There is no need for automobile companies to ask for incentives any more. They should rather develop a pool of drivers to enhance skill development,” Mint quoted Gadkari.

Last year, Gadkari had asked automobile makers in the country to start switching to clean fuel or risk getting “bulldozed” by him. The Narendra Modi government had earlier expressed ambitions of achieving a target of 30 per cent EVs by 2030.

Many automotive majors welcomed the government’s initiative. Rahil Ansari, head, Audi India, while speaking in the event, said, “With Audi’s global focus on electric mobility, our project ‘Electrified India’ is already underway and we are in a position to launch the ‘Audi Etron’ in 2019-2020 subject to conducive market conditions.”