Winning Bizness Desk

Mumbai. Electric vehicles (EVs) may become expensive from the new year, because the third phase of the FAME scheme launched to promote EVs, the Finance Ministry may go off after the current financial year. The Ministry believes that EV vehicle manufacturers who are beneficiaries of FAME-1 and FAME-2 do not need any further government support. The Ministry of Heavy Industries has proposed to increase the subsidy for the next five years under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) to promote electric vehicles. The central government had increased the allocation for FAME-1 to Rs 895 crore for 2015 to 2019 and Rs 10,000 crore for FAME-2 for 2019-24. An even higher amount is expected for FAME 3 but the segments to be targeted have not been finalized yet. The government believes that the EV market has reached the right stage at this time.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries is in discussion with the Finance Ministry, a government official said, adding that the final decision on the proposal will be taken after taking into account the status of EV penetration, support required and availability of funds. Apart from this, support is also being offered under the Performance Linked Incentive Scheme (PLI) for battery and auto component manufacturing.

7.53 lakh two-wheelers EV got support

Till August 1, more than 7,53,000 EV two-wheelers have received support under FAME-2. The scheme focuses on supporting electrification of government and shared transport through subsidies to 7,090 e-buses, 5,00,000 three-wheelers, 55,000 four-wheeler passenger cars and 10 lakh two-wheelers. Of these, only the sales of buses and two-wheelers have been close to the targets the scheme had set out to achieve.