EV makers urge govt to ease PLI norms, expand charging infra

As India begins the journey to popularise the adoption of electric vehicles, leading EV startups stated that the government should not only introduce standardised EV charging infrastructure across the country, but also ease norms for EV manufacturing under the production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme.

To be eligible for the Rs 26,058 crore incentives under the PLI scheme for the EV industry, an automaker must have a global revenue of at least Rs 10,000 crore and have a minimum investment of Rs 3,000 crore in fixed assets.

Currently, most of the EV makers are startups like Ather Energy, Bounce, Hero Electric, Okinawa Autotech and others.

Tarun Mehta, Co-founder and CEO, Ather Energy stated , while the startups form the majority of the EV ecosystem in India and have led the EV revolution from the front, a majority of them are ineligible for the PLI scheme.

The PLI scheme will be effective from FY2023 for five years and the base year for eligibility criteria would be FY2020. A total of 10 OEMs, 50 auto component makers and five new non-automotive investors will benefit from the scheme.

Vivekanada Hallekere, CEO and Co-founder, Bounce said, "In order to facilitate faster adoption of EVs, the government had introduced section 80EEB, granting an exemption of Rs 150,000 towards interest on EV loans."

Published on: Thursday, January 27, 2022, 06:58 PM IST