The Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said that the government plans to set up an institution to fund businesses with a focus on electric vehicles and also facilitate new financial instruments for lending to the public transportation and commercial vehicle segment.
While addressing the India Global Forum 2021, Gadkari also said the government is planning to bring incentives for construction equipment vehicles to encourage them to become electric ones.
As per the recent report, India’s electric vehicle financing industry is projected to be worth Rs 3.7 lakh crore in 2030, which would be about 80 per cent of the current retail vehicle finance industry.
Mr Gadkari pointed out that the government is giving highest priority for electric vehicles adoption in India. This is because the country’s electric vehicles sector is growing rapidly, and the government is supporting domestic electric vehicles. He also indicated that the battery cost is 50 per cent of an electric vehicle and India’s research institutions are working on an alternative battery technology for such vehicles.
The report titled ‘Mobilising Electric Vehicle Financing in India‘, prepared by Niti Aayog and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) had also said that end-users currently face several challenges such as high interest rates, high insurance rates, and low loan-to-value ratios.
The Minister also pointed out that India has a huge domestic demand for electric vehicles and many start- ups have started producing electric vehicles.
He further communicated that due to import of petroleum products, India is facing problems of pollution.