The Minister of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, Anant Geete announced today that the government will provide Rs 437 crore subsidy to 11 cities under FAME India’s pilot project for launching electric buses, taxis and three-wheelers.
The government has shortlisted Delhi, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Jaipur, Mumbai, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Indore and Kolkata, plus two cities – Jammu and Guwahati under special category. Under the scheme the nine big cities will be given subsidy for 40 buses each while Jammu and Guwahati will get for 15 buses each.
The subsidy for taxis will be given to Ahmedabad (20 taxis), Bangalore (100 taxis), Indore (50 taxis) and Kolkata (200 taxis) – based on their demand. Additionally, Bangalore will get subsidy for 500 three-wheelers, Indore for 200 and Ahmedabad for 20, taking the total subsidy support for 390 buses, 370 taxis and 720 three wheelers.
Under this scheme the selected cities will be required to finalise the tendering process and issue supply order before February 28, 2018. Through this EOI (Expression of Interest) the Department of Heavy Industry will spend around Rs 437 crore under FAME India scheme (Phase I), which includes about Rs 40 crore as incentives for installation of charging infrastructure.
The statement released by the Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises states that while many Departments and Ministries are working for promotion of electric vehicles, it is administering the 'Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehciles in India' scheme, popularly known as FAME India scheme since April 1, 2015. It further states that this effort is set to provide a significant boost to electric mobility with an aim to roll out a number of electric buses, electric three-wheelers and electric shared cabs for multi-modal public transport.
Today’s announcement is a follow up to the Expression of Interest (EOI) proposal that was invited by the ministry on October 31, 2017 from million plus cities and special category states for multimodal transport. Under this EOI, additional incentive was also proposed to augment charging infrastructure for public transport. The last date for receipt of the proposal was 30th November 2017.
The ministry has received 47 proposals from 44 cities across 21 states having requirement of 3,144 e-buses, 2,430 e-taxis and 21,545 e-three-wheelers, with the total financial support of Rs 4,054.6 crore being sought from the Government of India. The proposals were shortlisted after evaluation of on parameters like population, vehicle density, vehicular pollution, Swachhata Abhiyan ranking, coverage under Smart City programme, the available financial outlay under Phase 1 of FAME India scheme among others.