Niti Aayog's EV transition meeting: Here's the full text of Rajiv Bajaj's statement

Shocked because we seem to want to emulate China that disabled its ICE 2 and 3 wheeler industry by banning ICE vehicles in select large cities, in the process making it possible for the Indian 2 and 3 wheeler industry to exploit large global markets thus recording an export of over 3 million vehicles in FY19.

And finally in awe of the government's apparent willingness to subsidise EVs to help them achieve reasonable price parity with ICE 2 and 3 wheelers for at an estimated minimum industry size of 25 million by 2025 and at an approximate subsidy of Rs 1 lakh/vehicle that's a neat Rs 250,000 crore!

In my view, all that is needed is for the government and industry to understand from global battery makers the scale that they need to set up battery manufacture in India that would significantly lower battery costs to the desired target level... unfortunately there were no battery makers at the meeting yesterday and in their absence the event discussions were eventually inconclusive.

I am 100 percent in favour of all monetary and other incentives to enable the transition to ICE 2 and 3 wheelers to EVS which are being vigorously developed by every ICE OEM without exception.

I'm also 200 percent opposed to any mandatory ban of ICE 2 and 3 wheelers as the unshakeable fact is that our industry is world class for it makes the lowest emission and highest fuel efficiency vehicles in the world, exports every year over 3 million vehicles worth about $3 billion, and employs at home across its supply chain 1 million people whose contribution to India's GDP is anything but insignificant.