The Minister of State for Heavy Industries and Steel (MHI), Bhupathi Raju Srinivasa Varma, said that under the second phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) programme, ₹68.25 billion has been handled for 16,71,606 electric vehicles as of July 31, 2024.
He declared this in a written reply to the upper house of parliament, which involved an updated status of the programmes in the EV sector that are running to date.
He emphasized that affirmations submitted under the programme include 14,69,343 electric two-wheelers, 1,78,952 electric three-wheelers, and 23,311 electric four-wheelers, totalling 16,71,606 vehicles.
Moreover, 6,862 electric buses were sanctioned for various cities and state transport units under the FAME-II scheme, with 4,853 distributed by July 31, 2024.
Additionally, the Minister also said that the government currently has four programmes running for the EV sector. One of the scheme involves the Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme 2024 (EMPS), with a ₹7.78 billion budget, which presents inducements for e-2W and e-3W investments from April 1 to September 30, 2024.
He also stated the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for the Automobile and Auto Component Industry (PLI-AAT), in which ₹259.38 billion is assigned and assists a wide range of electric vehicles, including e-buses and e-trucks.
By March 31, 2024, authorized applicants announced fundings of ₹178.96 billion and progressive sales of ₹33.7 billion. The PLI-Auto Scheme’s tenure was expanded by one year through notifications dated December 29, 2023.
Moreover, the Production Linked Incentive Scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cells (PLI-ACC), with a ₹181 billion budget, is proceeding to boost domestic battery manufacturing. A new scheme is also engrossed on encouraging electric passenger car production, directing to fascinate global EV investments and position India as a major e-vehicle manufacturing hub.
Varma added that ₹5.6 billion of the ₹8 billion in capital subsidies that MHI has allotted to three Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) for 7,432 public EV charging stations has already been released. A further ₹735 million was approved under FAME II in March 2024 for 980 new fast-charging stations; of that amount, ₹514.5 million had already been paid out.
The Ministry of Heavy Industries launched the FAME India Scheme in 2015 to boost electric and hybrid vehicle adoption. Phase I, ending March 2019 with an ₹8.95 billion budget, focused on technology, demand generation, pilot projects, and charging infrastructure. It supported 280,000 EVs with ₹3.59 billion in incentives, deployed 425 electric buses with ₹2.8 billion, and set up 520 charging stations with ₹430 million.
With a budget of ₹115 billion, the second phase was set to commence in April 2019 and support 7,262 e-buses, 1,55,536 e-3 wheelers, 30,461 e-cars, and 15,50,225 e-2 wheelers in addition to infrastructure for charging.