PFC approved the loan to Gensol Engineering for procuring 5,000 passenger EVs and 1,000 cargo EVs to be run across Delhi-NCR
The passenger vehicles will be leased to electric mobility firm Blusmart Mobility and the first lot of EVs under it have hit the roads of the national capital
The development comes at a time when EV adoption is on the rise in the country, backed by the government’s push through the FAME-II scheme
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In a bid to spur the local electric vehicle (TV) ecosystem, state-backed Power Finance Corporation has extended an INR 633 Cr loan to Gensol Engineering. The debt will be deployed to procure 5,000 passenger EVs and 1,000 cargo EVs for operations across Delhi-NCR
The passenger vehicles will be leased to electric mobility firm Blusmart Mobility. The first tranche of the loan has already been disbursed and the first set of EVs procured through the loan were flagged off on Thursday (April 21).
A press statement noted that these 5,000 commercial EV cars will save 1 Lakh tons of carbon dioxide that would otherwise have been emitted into the environment.
“With a vision of accelerating India’s net-zero goal, PFC, apart from funding renewables, has been exploring opportunities in debt funding of EVs (original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and fleet acquisition), battery OEMs and EV charging infrastructure,” said a statement.
India’s EV Push
The development comes at a time when EV adoption is on the rise in the country, backed by state-backed schemes such as the beleaguered FAME-II scheme and other production-linked incentives for OEMs.
As a result, a number of EV startups have mushroomed in the country including the likes of Ola Electric, Ather Energy, and Ampere Vehicles. Besides, a number of other ecosystem players such as battery startup Log9 Materials, charging network platform CHARGE+ZONE, and EV financing platform Vidyut have also emerged in the country.
The extension of the loan comes close on the heels of the Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) launching a pilot financing scheme to fund the purchase of 50,000 EVs.
As a result, the sales of EVs have grown rapidly over the last couple of years, with electric two-wheelers leading the race. Two-wheeler EV registrations grew almost 30% month-on-month (MoM) to 85,683 units in March 2023.
As per latest government data released in March, India was home to 21.7 Lakh registered EVs, with UttarPradesh, Maharashtra and Delhi leading the charts.
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