Centre may tweak policy for sops to EV makers invested in India: Report

Centre on March 15 announced that a scheme has been approved to promote India as a manufacturing destination so that electric vehicles (EV) with the latest technology can be manufactured in the country.

The government is likely to make some changes to its electric vehicle (EV) policy in order to incentivise automakers that invested in the country, The Economic Times reported.

The government may consider investments in plants producing internal combustion engine and electric vehicles as eligible for incentives to make large investments viable for automakers, the report stated.

Auto giants like Volkswagen-Skoda, Hyundai-Kia and VinFast have expressed interest in the new policy, the 'Scheme for Manufacturing of Electric Cars (SMEC)', the report added.

Moneycontrol couldn't independently verify the report.

The development comes after US electric automaker Tesla Inc drags its feet on making any firm commitment on building a factory in India.

The Centre had on March 15 announced that a scheme has been approved to promote India as a manufacturing destination so that electric vehicles (EV) with the latest technology can be manufactured in the country. "The policy is designed to attract investments in the e-vehicle space by reputed global EV manufacturers," said the Ministry of Commerce & Industry in a statement.

According to the report, automakers have two major concerns - one is that the scheme should consider current investments and that it should include plants producing petrol and diesel cars along with EVs. The latter have a small share of the passenger vehicles market, which doesn’t justify high investments.

“Initially, the scheme was designed for newer companies making EVs. Consultations are on to see if the scheme could be made more attractive now even for traditional companies,” a senior official aware of the development told ET.

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