Demand Incentives of Over Rs 3 billion Extended Since FAME Rollout

Nearly 280,000 vehicles have been supported by way of extending demand incentives of about Rs 3.59 billion since the rollout of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) scheme in 2015. As a pilot project involving 425 e-buses was also supported in various states to promote public transportation.

The government approved Phase-I of the FAME India scheme in March 2015 for a period of two years from April 2015 to promote the adoption of electric vehicles to reduce dependence on fossil fuels. The Phase-I of the Scheme was extended from time to time and the last extension was allowed till March 31 this year.

Based on the outcome and experience gained during the Phase-I of FAME India Scheme and after having consultations with all stakeholders including industry and industry associations, the government notified Phase-II of FAME India Scheme on March 8, which is for a period of three years commencing from April 1, with total budgetary support of Rs. 100 billion. This phase will mainly focus on supporting the electrification of public & shared transportation, and aims to support through incentives about 7,000 e-buses, 500,000 e-3 wheelers (e-3W), 55,000 e-4 wheelers (e-4W) passenger cars and 1 million e-2 wheelers. Besides, the creation of charging infrastructure will be also supported to address range anxiety among users of electric vehicles.

Under Phase-II of FAME-India Scheme, incentives are being provided to the consumers on purchase of electric vehicles, used for public transport or those registered for commercial purposes in e-3W, e-4W (including Strong Hybrid) segment, however, privately owned registered e-2W are also be covered under the scheme. The demand incentive to these electrical vehicles is linked to battery capacity i.e. Rs. 10,000/KWh subject to the capping of 20 per cent cost of these vehicles. Demand incentive is restricted to vehicles with prices less than the threshold value which is Rs 150,000 for e-2W, 500,000 lakh for e-3W and 1.5 million for e-4W.

This information was given by the Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Prakash Javadekar, in reply to an unstarred question in the Rajya Sabha on Monday.