Pulkit Khurana, Co-Founder of Battery Smart:

The budget should address the financing of EVs through government incentives as well as for charging infrastructure, and Li-ion batteries. The government should enhance the purview of FAME and bring subsidies on batteries under the government’s scope while also bridging the parity on GST on batteries versus  EVs (currently at 18 percent should be brought down to 5 percent).

The FAME has made EVs affordable today. The need of the hour is for the scope of FAME to be enhanced so that concerns around subsidies for batteries can be addressed. Bringing Li-ion batteries under these subsidies will boost buyer confidence, thus doing away with the apprehensions of EV users regarding the recurring investment involved in batteries.”

As told to Sricharan R