Government looking to promote electric vehicles in India

Government of India is looking to make a policy to promote electric vehicles (EVs) in the country. An inter-ministerial group is currently conducting a feasibility study on this matter. The policy is mainly aimed at providing guidelines on how to promote electric and alternate fuel vehicles, ant it is likely to be finalised by the end of this fiscal.

The state of affairs of EV industry is very very poor and the industry will not survive very long, unless there is government intervention. The industry need government support, said, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) president Naveen Munjal.

If government helps, the industry can grow 2-3 times in the coming years. Otherwise, it will remain almost at the same level, said SMEV Director (corporate affairs) Sohinder Gill said.

The government is conducting a feasibility study which has been going on under NMCC, but it is expected that final draft as well as implementation of the policy would be carried out by the Ministry of Heavy Industries, reported a news paper. The main task before the group is to find ways to encourage research and development of such vehicles. It is studying options to incentivise the electric vehicle industry, he added.

Currently, REVA is the only electric car maker in India, though there are a significant number of players in electric two-wheeler segment.

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