NEW DELHI: Nitin Gadkari, Minister for Road Transport & Highways and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises on Wednesday said that the Government is actively working to support E-mobility in the form of several incentives, GST exemption, and FAME-2 scheme.
Addressing the World Conference organized by the BRICS Network University (NU), the Minister stated that the electric vehicle industry has huge employment potential and efforts are being made to establish India as the largest automobile manufacturing hub in the world.
Gadkari said that India is a power surplus nation and E-mobility would be the most effective solution to develop import substitute, cost-effective, indigenous, pollution-free mode of transport. Hailing India’s research prowess, the Minister said that India’s research and academic institutions like ISRO, DRDO and IITs are working hard towards development of indigenous and low-cost battery technology for electric vehicles.
He advocated encouragement to electric mobility in the country and listed out its advantages. He said that the low-cost raw material for the batteries can be made available from scrapping of old vehicles. He exuded confidence that the indigenous battery technology, localization of Electric Vehicle (EV) components, and huge domestic demand would make EVs the most affordable means of transport.
The minister also said that the mass manufacturing of EVs in the country would generate huge employment opportunity. The Minister emphasized on the need for extensive development, promotion and use of various forms of bio-fuel in the country to make transport sector in the country economically viable. The mass manufacturing of EVs in India would boost their exports, as well, he added.