NEW DELHI: The new electric vehicle (EV) subsidy scheme,
PM E-Drive
, will offer a Rs 10,000 subsidy on every electric 2-wheeler sold up to March 2025, with the support being halved in the next financial year. There will be a subsidy of Rs 50,000 for every electric 3-wheeler as the govt seeks to promote
green public transport
modes, which will be reduced to 25,000 from April.
Sharing details of the scheme on Thursday, Union heavy industries minister H D Kumaraswamy said it aims to achieve 10% EV penetration in the 2-wheeler space and 15% EV penetration in the 3-wheeler space by March 2026, and to accelerate the adoption of EVs and establish essential charging infrastructure for promoting cleaner transportation.
In response to a query on the reason for excluding electric cars from the scheme, he said the GST for such cars is at a lower slab of 5%.
Govt has said that the new scheme has been designed after learning from the earlier two phases of FAME, which was marred with instances of companies selling largely imported vehicles and availing subsidies whereas it was aimed at subsidising locally manufactured vehicles. Subsequently, govt had to initiate action to recover the disbursed subsidy.
Responding to a question on how govt will ensure compliance with domestic manufacturing norms in the new scheme, heavy industries secretary Kamran Rizvi said, “There will be a conformity of production (COP) test every six months.” On whether companies that are yet to return the subsidies they availed wrongly will be allowed to participate in the new scheme, Kumaraswamy said, “Regarding defaulters who have misused scheme, how can we encourage them?”
As there is added focus on promoting EV for public transport, the scheme has kept aside nearly 40% of its outlay or Rs 4,391 crore subsidy for electric buses.
