Tarun Kapoor, Advisor to the Prime Minister, said at the 66th Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers annual convention in New Delhi that India must accelerate its transition to electric mobility, particularly for trucks and buses, and build domestic capacity in critical technologies and components to reduce vulnerabilities to global supply disruptions. He said the next five years would be critical for the automobile industry and that incremental changes would be insufficient to meet India's energy security and technology goals. Kapoor urged a major landscape change rather than incremental measures.

He noted rising concerns over energy security and dependence on imported crude and said the shift towards sustainability, energy efficiency and cleaner fuels would accelerate. The government, he said, would need to collaborate with manufacturers and financiers to design supportive financing models. He also highlighted the role of policy measures in steering large scale change.

He identified heavy vehicles, particularly trucks, as a priority for faster electrification and said diesel dependence remained a major bottleneck for India. Kapoor said the government would work with industry on financing mechanisms, battery swapping and highway charging infrastructure to reduce costs and improve viability for electric trucks. He noted the PM E-DRIVE scheme currently provides for 5,000 electric trucks but only around 150 have been covered so far.

Beyond mobility, he called for a stronger domestic manufacturing base for semiconductors and other critical components used in vehicles and cited recent supply disruptions involving rare earth magnets as an example of vulnerability in concentrated global supply chains. Kapoor said India should aim to emerge as a global automobile manufacturing, technology and export hub with greater research and development, design, component manufacturing and innovation taking place domestically. He indicated that measures such as restrictions, taxation policies and schemes to replace older commercial vehicles could be considered and asked the industry to come forward with ideas to scale the transition.