EV makers want FAME II rejigged

Ahead of the upcoming Union Budget, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) has asked Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to either rejig the FAME II scheme or reintroduce FAME I, saying the programme meant to promote EVs in its second avatar has been able to achieve less than 10 per cent of its target.

The Rs 10,000-crore FAME-II scheme which is to be implemented over a period of three years, came into effect from April 1, 2019. It is the expanded version of FAME India I (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid) and Electric Vehicles (FAME) which was launched on April 1, 2015, with a total outlay of Rs 895 crore.

In a letter to the finance minister, the industry body of electric vehicle (EV) makers also called for a notional ' green cess' on polluting vehicles and use it to accelerate electric mobility, while also seeking reduction of GST on EVs sold without battery.

"For a nascent and disruptive industry like EV that is heavily dependent on government policies, there needs to be an effective approach that would drive the market of EVs in the country... The industry is still lagging behind the desired target," SMEV Director General Sohinder Gill wrote in a letter to Sitharaman.

He further said, "our analysis shows that efforts must be made to generate demand and we believe that this can be easily done by the government's intervention relating to streamlining, ironing out policy details and adequate announcements in Budget.”