Changes likely in India's new EV policy, may benefit legacy car companies
electric vehicle (EV) policy to incentivise automakers that have already made investments in the country, people in the know told ET. This comes as US electric carmaker Tesla Inc is still to make any firm commitment on building a factory in India. The policy, which aims to accelerate the local manufacturing of high-end electric cars, currently supports only fresh investments.
Consultations are also on with stakeholders on another key issue troubling carmakers.
Govt Preparing SOPs
The government may potentially consider investments in plants producing both internal combustion engine and electric vehicles as eligible for incentives to add scale and make large investments viable for automakers, the people said. About half a dozen carmakers such as Volkswagen-Skoda, Hyundai-Kia and VinFast have expressed interest in the new policy, the Scheme for Manufacturing of Electric Cars (SMEC), the people said.
Automakers have flagged two major concerns — that the scheme should consider current investments and include plants producing petrol and diesel cars along with EVs, since the latter currently have a small share of India’s passenger vehicle market, which doesn’t justify high investments. No automaker has yet made any official comment on participating in the EV scheme since it was announced on March 15.
Under the SMEC, the government said it will allow imports of completely built-up EVs having a minimum cost, insurance and freight value of $35,000 at 15% import duty for up to five years if companies invest at least $500
