Green Bharat Summit: India must accelerate EV shift or risk losing global market, says Amitabh Kant

"We are five years behind the curve, and disruption will be rapid in the next five to six years," he said. "We are selling typewriters in a digital age," and that India must adapt quickly to avoid losing market share.

The Indian auto sector employs around 34 million people but with the tech shift, India risks losing out unless it moves swiftly, he said.

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Kant also mentioned the government’s automobile production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme, launched in 2021, saying "not a single penny has been used" under the scheme. "The focus should be on scaling up EV production, not just looking at numbers," he said.

He called on the government to leverage its position as a friendly nation to the US and benefit from global tariff impositions on China.

Kant praised Indian start-ups for taking the lead in EV innovation. "At least on two-wheelers, there are 1,432 startups but if you left it to legacy players, it could have been very different," he said. This shift in the industry is an "entrepreneur issue" and that manufacturers should have ramped up production much earlier.

For India to become a global leader in the EV market, Kant called for bold, immediate action, both from the government and the industry. "10X more needs to be done," he added.