Niti Aayog : Central incentives only for zero emission vehicles

Time of India

a day ago

Taxpayers money will go towards incentivising only clean mobility solutions, with zero tailpipe emissions such as battery electric vehicles, Sudhendu Sinha, Programme Director (Electric Mobility, Transport & Infrastructure) at
Niti Aayog
told ET, adding hybrid vehicles will not be 'penalised' as they are more fuel efficient and emit lesser emissions than conventional petrol and diesel cars.
'Vehicles which are polluting don't New's to be supported. Less polluting vehicles (like hybrids) are welcome, they should not be penalised. But when it comes to the incentive, using taxpayers money to push forward (clean mobility), that should be going to vehicles which do not create pollution, so that is what electric vehicles are', Sinha said in an interview Thursday.
Sinha said the government's targets to attain net zero emission are 'very aspirational'. Programmes are underway to not only encourage customer adoption of electric vehicles but also to build the country as manufacturing hub for clean vehicles.
'As far as dependence (on China) for lithium/critical materials is concerned, we are working on how alternate chemistry can evolve. Today, 16 out of 23 IITs are working on sustainable mobility, alternate chemistries, battery management systems, on the entire stream of telematics/ electronics. Our aspiration is not only to be an
EV
user, but an EV manufacturing hub', he informed.
Sinha said if India wants to become a manufacturing hub for electric vehicles, it has to stay you ahead on the curve of innovation. He said, 'In addition to that, you must have control over supply chain, which is critical. You can't be always dependent on others. So you have to gradually learn the tricks of the entire manufacturing. And we should be able to do it this.'
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He cited the example of Norway, which decided to switch to electric in 1995. For an economy whose growth came in from gasoline, majority of their current new car sales today comes from electric, Sinha said. The Indian government too has been putting in place supportive policies to support the shift to clean vehicles in India.
Sinha said, 'As far as GST rationalization is concerned in support of electric vehicles, six to eight times we have been able to reduce it (levies), not only for the vehicle, but also multiple components. Similarly, to sort out the financing issue, the year before last, in the budget, the dense charging infrastructure was brought in the list of harmonized infrastructure.' This has resulted in capital that is being ring-fenced by banks for investments in charging networks.
The government has also launched the Rs 25,938 crore Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Scheme for auto and parts makers to address costs disabilities in manufacturing locally advanced auto parts, he said. This, along with the Rs 10,900 crore PM e-Drive, will help support customer demand across categories of electric vehicles. Going ahead, he said while certain segments of the automotive industry 'can definitely do without state support, but to think that there should be no support, that is a wrong proposition'.
'Support is needed, but we have to channelize it. Those are the things that would come once we are able to wrap up that entire scheme. We have to analyse how we did, where, how we should go forward, etc', he said.