Every government that comes to power talks about reducing the carbon footprints by increasing the use of electric and hybrid vehicles in India. But none of them have been competent enough to form a stringent policy to support electric vehicle manufacturers.
According to a report, sales of the electric vehicles have almost halved in this calendar year. The industry is expected to sell around 24,000 units as compared with 43,000 units which it sold last calendar year. These sales include two-wheelers and four-wheelers. The industry performed very well in 2012 where it managed to sell around 1.1 lakh units because there was support from the government in the form of subsidies. However, since its withdrawal, the numbers are coming down drastically, which is not good for the electric vehicles industry.
Few years ago, there were around 22 manufacturers in this industry, however, the numbers have now reduced to just seven. These remaining companies were able to survive because most of them are either related to some multinational companies or do business in the international markets. The new government has been promoting green vehicles and are optimistic about the implementation of the policy. As per the talks held with the government officials before Diwali, the industry players were asked to ramp up capacities. However, nothing happened on that front.
The famous National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) which is yet to take off, is the only way the electric vehicle market will grow in India. The policy that was approved by the Prime Minister in 2012, plans to have six-seven million electric vehicles on road by 2020, which will help the government save a Rs 30,000 crore fuel bill. We hope to see some development on this regard in the next budget.
We recently had a chat with Chetan Maini, CEO, Mahindra Reva about the electric vehicle industry and NEMMP. Read about it here.
