India govt targeting up to 7M sales of hybrid and electric vehicles by 2020
The plan is to enhance national fuel security to provide affordable and environment-friendly transportation and to enable the Indian automotive industry to achieve global manufacturing leadership.
The Indian government has a target to achieve six to seven million sales of hybrid and electric vehicles by 2020 under the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP), the Parliament was informed on Monday.
The NEMMP 2020 is a national mission document providing the vision and a roadmap for faster adoption of electric vehicles and their manufacturing in the country.
The plan has been designed to enhance national fuel security, to provide affordable and environment-friendly transportation and to enable the Indian automotive industry achieve a global manufacturing leadership.
"Under the NEMMP 2020, there is an ambitious target to achieve six to seven million sales of hybrid and electric vehicles by the year 2020," said Union Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Minister Arvind Sawant, in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
Based on the experience from Phase-I of FAME India Scheme, it has been observed that sufficient charging infrastructure is required to achieve expected outcome of the plan, which is being addressed presently in Phase-II of FAME Scheme, he added.
The government has also approved Rs 10,000 crore for Faster Adoption and Manufacture of Electric Vehicles (FAME) II scheme on April 1.
Recently, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman encouraged electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing and adoption in India, during her maiden Budget speech. This includes a reduction of Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 12 percent to five percent, exemption of customs duty as well as additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loan for purchasing EVs.
Last month, officials of government think tank Niti Aayog, ministries of road transport, power, renewable energy, and steel, as well as the department of heavy industries and trade suggested that cab aggregators like Ola and Uber switch to electric cabs.
In March, the government said it is planning to set up a National Mission on Transformative Mobility and Battery Storage to bring clean and connected technologies that can usher in an era of shared and sustainable EV infrastructure in the country.
