[Budget 2022] Govt to introduce EV battery swapping policy: FM Nirmala Sitharaman

The fourth Union Budget presented under PM Modi 2.0 government on February 1, 2022 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman laid the blueprint for the government's four priorities, one of which is productivity enhancement and investment, sunrise opportunities, energy transition, and climate action. In line with this vision, the Finance Minister read out the speech from a made in India tablet, presenting a paperless Budget. 

The Budget also had a few announcements regarding electric vehicles (EVs), and clean and sustainable mobility. FM Nirmala Sitharaman proposed that the government will bring a battery swapping policy with formulated interoperability standards, considering the constraint of space in urban areas for setting up charging stations at scale. 

“The private sector will be encouraged to develop sustainable and innovative business models for ‘Battery or Energy-as-a-Service’. This will improve efficiency in the EV ecosystem,” said the Finance Minister. 

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Apart from this, she also mentioned the creation of special mobility zones and that the government will promote a shift to the use of public transport in urban areas. This will be complemented by cleantech and governance solutions, special mobility zones with zero fossil-fuel policy, and EVs.

Beyond this, to encourage important sunrise sectors such as climate action, deeptech, digital economy, pharma, and agritech, the government will promote thematic funds for blended finance with the government share being limited to 20 percent and the funds being managed by private fund managers. 

“Artificial Intelligence, geospatial systems and drones, semiconductor and its ecosystem, space economy, genomics and pharmaceuticals, green energy, and clean mobility systems have immense potential to assist sustainable development at scale and modernise the country,” said the Finance Minister. “They provide employment opportunities for youth, and make Indian industry more efficient and competitive.”

Supportive policies, light-touch regulations, facilitative actions to build domestic capacities, and promotion of research and development will guide the government’s approach, said FM in the Budget speech. Besides efforts of collaboration among academia, industry and public institutions, government contribution will be provided for R&D in sunrise opportunities.