Govt to promote local EV production; move to boost employment generation
electric cars, a move aimed at laying a level playing field for the industry.
Local manufacturing will also boost employment generation while bringing down overall car prices.
The Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT), which operates under the aegis of the ministry of commerce & industry, has commenced discussions to put in place a scheme for subsidising electric four-wheeler makers linked to investments made by these companies for producing vehicles in the country, senior officials in the know told ET.
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“Unlike FAME II (Faster Adoption & Manufacturing of Electric Vehicle), which is an upfront subsidy paid to consumers, this will be a manufacturing incentive,” a senior government official said.
“The government is looking at extending incentives to vehicle manufacturers linked to the investments made by them to manufacture electric cars locally.”
Consultations are being held to determine the threshold of investment required to be made by carmakers to avail of benefits under the scheme as the Centre considers the outlay for the scheme.
This comes at a time when foreign carmakers such as Tesla and VinFast as well as automakers closer to home such as Maruti Suzuki, Hyundai Motor India, Kia, Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) are looking at driving in a slew of electric vehicles in the Indian market.
Last month, commerce & industry minister Piyush Goyal had said while some automobile industry participants (apart from Tesla) have also expressed interest in coming to India, “everything will be done equally” to ensure a level-playing field in the industry. “I had a conversation with some of the
