‘EV cos agree to end subsidy after existing subsidy regime ends’

New Delhi: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal on Friday said the electric vehicle (EV) companies present in the meeting have unanimously agreed that they would no longer need subsidies once the existing subsidy regime ends.

Stakeholders from the EV sector held deliberations with the minister here on issues pertaining to development of battery charging and swapping infrastructure.

Goyal also said that companies are free to choose their own business models. Whether they prefer to collaborate and share resources for battery swapping or sell vehicles with their own batteries, the decision is entirely up to them, he said.

“Everybody was unanimous in the room that once the existing subsidy regime comes to an end, none of them requires the subsidy to grow further...Each sector has one or the other model which makes it self-sustaining and does not call for further subsidies,” Goyal told reporters when asked about the views of companies on subsidies.

In a bid to woo global EV makers into the country, in March last year the government rolled out an electric vehicle policy, under which duty concessions were offered to companies setting up manufacturing units in the country with a minimum investment of $500 million. The government has plans to install 10,763 public charging stations across the country under the FAME-II scheme.

Under FAME-India Scheme phase-II, incentives are provided to buyers of electric vehicles in the form of an upfront reduction in the purchase price of electric vehicles.