Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, in her maiden budget speech said that the government has allocated Rs 10,000 crore to the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME II) scheme on April 1, 2019 for faster adoption of electric vehicles and has announced upfront incentives for electric vehicles.
This will help attract investment for manufacture and ensure clean energy over time.
"We are launching interoperable transport card to be used for transport," she said.
Sitharaman also announced, "A national transport card for universal travel which can used on various modes of transport, including road, railways etc."
"Considering our large consumer base, we aim to leapfrog and envision India as a global hub of manufacturing of electric vehicles," she said.
In order to make EVs affordable, the government has already moved the GST council to lower the tax rate on such vehicles from 12 to 5 per cent, the finance minister said.
"Also to make electric vehicles affordable to consumers our government will provide additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on the loans taken to purchase EVs," Sitharaman said.
Her announcement comes close on the heels of Niti Aayog proposing to migrate to full electric vehicles for two-wheelers of engine capacity of up ot 150 cc and three-wheelers by 2023 and 2025 respectively.
First Published: Jul 5, 2019 11:32 AM IST
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