Nitin Gadkari, Minister of Road Transport and Highways told the media that India has been manufacturing 81% of lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) in the country.
He told the media that there has been a considerable increase in electric vehicles in India. From 24,600 in 2020, to currently more than 49,500. Gadkari also said that many startups are also working on alternate battery technologies. The Minister told the media that the government would decrease imports and in the next two years, the clean fuel use, alternative fuel, and bio-fuel would increase in the country. John Brittas, a CPI-M member, asked regarding the model policy to promote EVs of the centre and Gadkari answered that the Goods and Services Tax (GST) rate for EVs is just 5%. He said that green hydrogen is the fuel for the future and is also being used across Europe. Jairam Ramesh, a Congress lawmaker, questioned if the Centre plans to phase out petrol and diesel vehicles, to which Gadkari answered that the government has introduced a scrapping policy to undertake this issue. Gadkari said that the transformation towards EVs would be a natural preference of people as it is beneficial financially and good for the environment as well. He said that he does not want to commit to any target towards the phase-out but the scenario would change in the upcoming three years. Image Source
