The Government has decided to approve Rs 3,500 crore subsidy for promoting electric vehicles over next five years as part of FAME 2 scheme.
The subsidy of Rs 3,500 crore for promoting electric vehicles (EV) in India has been approved by the government. The promotion of EV is a part of FAME 2 scheme. As of now it is only supporting the government run buses and not private or hybrid vehicles.
It leaves out private cars, two wheelers and hybrid vehicles from the subsidy that support green mobility initiatives.
On Wednesday, a committee headed by expenditure secretary A N Jha approved to allocate Rs 12,000 crore against the demand of Ministry of Heavy Industries as it pushed the scheme under FAME 2 scheme.
“There was a view that the financial incentive should be provided only to public transport. While the original proposal had sought Rs 5,000 crore for buses, now it may reduce to less than Rs 1,500 crore, said an official to TOI.”
According to the officials, this plan will include provision for providing incentives of about Rs 1,000 crore for setting up EV charging stations, special allocation for creating a venture capital fund and for carrying out research and development in this sector.
Officials in the automobile sector has appreciated the effort but they dismayed at the exclusion of hybrids. As per them, hybrids are an “intermediate” technology before the roll-out of full electrics and therefore need to be supported through subsidies.
