Around 99,000 hybrid/electric vehicles (xEVs) have been given direct support by way of demand incentives since the government launched its Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid&) Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme on April 1, 2015, the Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises Babul Supriyo disclosed this in reply to a written question in the Rajya Sabha today.

The government has launched the FAME scheme with the objective to support hybrid/electric vehicles market development and manufacturing eco-system. The scheme has four focus areas – technology development, demand creation, pilot projects and charging infrastructure. The first phase of the scheme is being implemented for a period of 2 years in FY2015-16 and FY2016-17 starting from April 2015.

Under the scheme, the department has also approved pilot projects, charging infrastructure projects and technological development projects aggregating to nearly Rs 155 crore.

The FAME India Scheme is aimed at incentivising all vehicle segments including two-wheelers, three- wheelers, passenger vehicles, light commercial vehicles and buses. The scheme covers hybrid and electric technologies like mild hybrid, strong hybrid, plug-in hybrid and battery electric vehicles.

During FY2015-16, an amount of Rs 75 crore was allocated for this scheme, which was almost fully utilised. In the current financial year 2016-17, around Rs 91 crore has already been utilised out of the budget allocation of Rs 122.90 crore for the fiscal.

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