The demand for EVs is increasing day by day. And with the increase in demand, India too is taking all steps to spread more about EVs. India has started taking steps that would soon result in the easy use of EVs by the people of the nation. And Niti Aayog has recommended a plan related to this.
The Niti Aayog recently decided to prepare a draft policy for the Indian Railways. The policy is to set up electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure. This will be set up at railway stations. This is now planned to be set up across the country. The installation of charging infra is for a bid to promote the use of such vehicles. The draft policy has been now shared with the ministry of railways. It also recommends supplying renewable energy to the charging facilities. It will line up with Indian Railways’ goal of becoming a net-zero carbon emitter by the year 2030.
Amitabh Kant is Niti Aayog’s chief executive officer. He said the policy is in discussion with the Railway ministry. The apex public policy think that the railways can have made a plan. The plan is to install all the EV charging facilities at all stations in a phased manner by the year 2030. Well, this facility can be immediately provided at 123 redeveloped railway stations too.
“Railway stations are landmark locations and they play a unique role in the entire transport sector, which make them strategic locations for providing public charging solutions for EVs,” Amitabh Kant said. Niti Aayog officials discussed on the draft policy with the railway ministry officials. Rajeev Jain, additional director general, PR, railway ministry, stated, “We have very recently received the communication. We are working on it.”
There is a Centre’s FAME-II (Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and EV) scheme. Under that scheme, there is a push towards adoption of EVs. This is especially for public and shared transportation. This will surely make a big impact in the country. The goal is to support approximately 7,000 e-buses. And, more 500,000 electric three-wheelers and 55,000 electric four-wheeler passenger cars. There’s also an aim to add one million electric two-wheelers through subsidies. All these reports were recently stated by a Niti Aayog official.
For these aims, providing a good EV charging infrastructure network is critical. The Centre indeed took several initiatives to scale up EV charging facilities. The NITI officials said that railway stations can provide a secure charging infrastructure. The charging onfro would be accessible to city residents easily.
Recently, NITI Aayog made a report on EVs with Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) and RMI India. It was then released on Friday. The report has statements regarding banks and non-banking financial companies (NBFCs) in India. It states that banks and NBFCs can achieve an electric vehicle (EV) financing market. The market size can be of Rs 40,000 crore by 2025 and Rs 3.7 lakh crore by 2030.
“Inclusion for retail lending to EVs has the potential to increase investor confidence by providing a market signal of ongoing government commitment to the sector,” according to the reports of Niti Aayog, RMI, and RMI India revealed on Friday.
“It can also ensure a swift and equitable transition by providing a mandate for financial institutions to direct credit to segments and use cases where credit deficiency persists despite compelling economics,” the report stated.
“However, retail finance for EVs has been slow to pick up,” it stated.
“Financial institutions have an important role to play in accelerating the adoption of EVs in India and supporting the decarbonisation of road transport,” Amitabh Kant, the CEO of NITI Aayog said.
“RBI’s PSL mandate has a proven track record of improving the supply of formal credit towards areas of national priority. It can provide a strong regulatory incentive for banks and NBFCs to scale their financing to EVs,” Kant said.
