Union Minister Piyush Goyal Expresses Concern Over Falling EV Sales

Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has expressed concern over the drop in sales of electric vehicles (EVs) in India during the April-June quarter and implored the industry to push for greater adoption of EVs.

Addressing the National Executive Committee Meeting, organised by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), the minister said, “I was pained when I saw the number of electric vehicles sold in India had fallen in the past quarter. I was truly, truly pained.”

Goyal asked companies to encourage their employees to use EVs, saying it would result in the growth of charging infrastructure, which in turn would provide a boost to the entire EV ecosystem. “With scale, the cost of the automobile will come down,” he said.

Two-wheeler EV registrations in India dipped more than 7% to 3.46 Lakh units in Q1 FY25 from 3.72 Lakh in the corresponding quarter of last year, according to the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways’ Vahan portal.

Amid a slowdown in demand for EVs, IPO-bound Ola Electric and legacy automakers TVS Motor and Bajaj Auto witnessed a sharp decline in their two-wheeler EV registrations during the period.

Speaking to Inc42, Vinkesh Gulati, former president of the Federation of Automobiles Dealers Association of India (FADA), said that the EV sales have been declining over the last six months or so due to a combination of factors such as “high EV prices, uncertainty around the quality of batteries and lower subsidies for EVs”.

Notably, the Centre’s FAME-II scheme ended on March 31 this year. Amid industry-wide demand for an extension of the scheme, the Centre introduced an INR 500 Cr scheme, the Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme 2024, to promote emobility from April 1 till July end.

However, the government has slashed the demand incentive amount under the new scheme.

Meanwhile, the Centre is working on new initiatives to boost EV sales in the country. The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) is working on setting up a task force to create a roadmap for the EV industry to further increase vehicle electrification.

The MHI is working with several agencies such as the Retail Motor Industry Organisation (RMI), the India Energy Storage Alliance (IESA), and the Indian Battery Swapping Association (IBSA) to set up the task force via interaction with multiple stakeholders across the EV ecosystem.

Meanwhile, the Centre is also expected to announce the FAME-III scheme in the Union Budget 2024-25, which is scheduled to be presented on July 23.