The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has issued a gazette notification today that serves to free e-rickshaws and e-carts from permit requirements.

According to the notification, the provisions of the sub-section (1) of section 66 of the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 will not apply to e-carts and e-rickshaws (as defined in section 2A of the said Act) that are used for carrying goods or passengers with personal luggage.

This means that vehicles that are registered as e-carts or e-rickshaws will not require any permits. State governments can, however, impose restrictions under appropriate traffic laws on plying of these vehicles in specific areas or specific roads. 

It is to be noted that the past year has seen a number of manufacturers roll out green and clean electric vehicles in India. In a bid to capture the local market,  Indian and global manufacturers have been pushing their most eco-friendly solutions over the past few months – be it Terra Motors, Clean Motion or Kinetic Green Energy and Power.

Earlier this year in April, prime minister Narendra Modi distributed 5,100 e-rickshaws at an event organised by the Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC) programme under the Mudra Yojna Scheme in Noida.

Under the program, the 5,100 e-rickshaws were slotted for distribution in the Delhi-NCR area, including Delhi, Noida, Ghaziabad, Gurgaon and Faridabad. Customers were allowed to book e-rickshaws through the Ola mobile app and make an online payment via Freecharge which was integrated into the scheme under the Digital India initiative.