New INR 500 Cr Scheme To Promote E-Mobility Kicks Off Today

The new INR 500 Cr scheme to promote electric mobility in India will come into force from today (April 1) and continue till the end of July. 

This comes at a time when the Centre has reportedly granted a temporary four-month extension to the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME-II) programme. The extension will entail an additional outlay of INR 500 Cr for the scheme. 

As reported by PTI, subsidies provided under the FAME scheme will remain applicable to electric vehicles sold until March 31 or till the time funds are available.

The Ministry of Heavy Industries is introducing the INR 500 Cr Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme 2024 (EMPS 2024) to boost the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) nationwide.

As per the report, under EMPS 2024, support of up to INR 10,000 per two-wheeler will be provided. The aim is to provide support for about 3.33 lakh two-wheelers.

Moreover, a subsidy of up to INR 25,000 will be offered for the purchase of small three-wheelers (e-rickshaw and e-carts), benefiting over 41,000 such vehicles under the scheme.

The financial support will be up to INR 50,000 in case of a large three-wheeler.

This EMPS 2024 scheme, with a total outlay of INR 500 CR, will be active for four months, starting from April 1, 2024, until July 31, 2024. It aims to accelerate the adoption of electric two-wheelers (e-2W) and three-wheelers (e-3W), further advancing green mobility and promoting the development of the EV manufacturing ecosystem in India. This initiative was announced by the Ministry of Heavy Industries on March 13.

The scheme aims to support 3,72,215 electric vehicles (EVs). To promote advanced technologies, incentives will be provided exclusively to vehicles equipped with advanced batteries, the ministry said, as reported by PTI.

As part of the Atmanirbhar Bharat initiative of the government, the EMPS 2024 fosters a competitive EV manufacturing sector in the country. To achieve this goal, the scheme implements the Phased Manufacturing Programme, which encourages domestic manufacturing and strengthening of the EV supply chain.

Additionally, it would also create significant employment opportunities along the value chain.

Introduced in 2019, FAME-II initially had a total budget of INR 10,000 Cr for supporting the adoption of EVs in India. While the industry had been requesting the Centre to extend the scheme beyond March 2024, the finance ministry recently approved an additional budget of INR 1,500 Cr for the programme. 

The additional budget allocation has updated the subsidies allotted under FAME-II for electric vehicles to INR 7,048 Cr, with INR 5,311 Cr earmarked specifically for electric two-wheelers. 

Initially, the second phase of the scheme aimed to support 10 Lakh electric two-wheelers, 5 Lakh electric three-wheelers, 7,000 electric buses, and 55,000 electric four-wheeler passenger cars through subsidies.