EV financing no longer risky, says Shriram Finance's executive vice chairman Umesh Revankar

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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Financing electric vehicle (EV) purchases is no longer risky compared to about five years ago, as more established players are now manufacturing such vehicles and the zero-emission mobility ecosystem has grown in the country, Shriram Finance's executive vice-chairman Umesh Revankar said. "I do not see a risk in lending for electric vehicles now because I feel technology is getting established and becoming more reliable because of the presence of large and established manufacturers.

Once large entities come and build technology, reliability and infrastructure, then automatically that industry goes for a big change. This is happening in the two-wheeler segment. Similarly, that is happening in three-wheeler.

Now we can see that it will happen in four-wheeler also," Revankar told Mint in an interview. He emphasized that five years ago, he wouldn't have thought of lending for EVs, but feels comfortable doing so now because green mobility is viable to individuals today. "I do not see a big risk in lending for electric or any other alternative fuel vehicle as long as it is viable to the individual buyer who buys it.

Five years ago, I would not have thought about financing electric vehicles at all. And now things are established, there are generally accepted standards, battery charging infrastructure," Revankar stressed. Product viability is justified when the cost of owning that product is less than its alternatives, he said.

"For businesses to adopt electric vehicles, the product must be superior, and the overall cost of acquisition must be more favourable than diesel or other alternatives. The technology needs to be advanced enough to justify ownership," he said. To be sure, leading