Union Budget envisions India as a global hub for manufacturing electric vehicles

In her maiden budget speech in Parliament today, the Union Minister of Finance and Corporate Affairs, Nirmala Sitharaman said that Under Phase-II of the FAME Scheme, only advanced battery and registered e-vehicles will be incentivized, with greater emphasis on providing affordable  and environment friendly public transportation options for the common man.

The main objective of the Scheme is to encourage faster adoption of electric vehicles through upfront incentive on purchase of such  vehicles and also by establishing the necessary charging infrastructure for the same. Phase II of FAME has an outlay of  Rs10,000 crore for a period of 3 years, and has commenced from 1st April, 2019.

The Finance Minister has further said that  the  inclusion of solar storage batteries and charging infrastructure in the FAME scheme will give a boost to manufacturing, which is needed for India  to leapfrog and become a global hub for  manufacturing of these vehicles.

The Finance Minister also said that the  Government has already moved GST council to lower the GST rate on electric vehicles from 12% to 5%.  Also to make electric vehicles affordable to consumers, the Union Budget says the government will provide additional income tax deduction of Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loans taken to purchase electric vehicles.  This  amounts to a benefit of around Rs 2.5 lakh over the  loan period to the taxpayers who  take loans to purchase electric vehicle.

To further incentivise e-mobility, customs duty is being exempted on certain parts of electric vehicles.