India Plans Battery PLI to Boost EV Adoption

18 Oct 2023 CW Team

The Indian government is actively developing a new Production Linked Incentive (PLI) program for batteries, aimed at reducing storage costs and promoting the adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) in the country. Union Minister for Power and New & Renewable Energy, R K Singh, emphasised the inevitability of an electric future and the importance of decreasing storage costs. He noted that once storage costs come down, traditional diesel and petrol SUVs will become obsolete.

During the launch of an EV dashboard created by the OMI Foundation, Singh highlighted that pricing is a major obstacle to EV adoption, primarily due to high storage costs. To address this issue, he announced the government's plan to introduce another PLI program to boost manufacturing capacity and production volumes, ultimately leading to cost reduction.

Additionally, Singh discussed the challenge posed by the concentration of lithium resources in a few countries. He emphasised the need to diversify into alternative chemistries, like sodium-ion batteries, to secure the EV supply chain.

In a positive development, EV sales in India surged to 371,214 units in the third quarter of 2023, marking a 40 per cent year-over-year increase from the 264,781 units sold in the same period the previous year.

The government's commitment to promoting EVs is underscored by a recent recommendation from a parliamentary committee to extend the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles (FAME) Phase II initiative until 2027. The goal is to make EVs more affordable in India, given that electric vehicles remain relatively costly. The committee pointed out the need for continued subsidies to encourage EV adoption, especially for electric two-wheelers, in light of FAME-II's original target of supporting 1,562,090 vehicles over five years not being met.

Infrastructure Urban

17 Sep 2025

DCPC Prepares for Special Campaign 5.0 with Focus on E-Waste

The Department of Chemicals and Petrochemicals (DCPC), Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers, is gearing up for Special Campaign 5.0, to be held from 2nd to 31st October 2025. The initiative will focus on e-waste disposal as per MoEFCC’s E-Waste Management Rules 2022, space optimisation, and enhancing workplace efficiency across field offices.Special Campaign 4.0, conducted between October 2023 and October 2024, delivered notable results in record management, grievance redressal, scrap disposal, and cleanliness drives.Key outcomes of Special Campaign 4.0Records management: 2,443 physical fil..

BlackRock India Leases 1.4 Lakh Sq Ft in Bengaluru

BlackRock Services India, the domestic arm of global asset manager BlackRock, has leased 1.4 lakh sq ft of office space at IndiQube Symphony in Bengaluru, according to Propstack data. The 10-year deal is valued at around Rs 4.10 billion.The lease, among the largest transactions in India’s co-working sector, highlights the growing preference of global institutions for flexible office providers. The agreement, commencing October 1, 2025, covers ground plus five floors in KNG Tower 1 at Ashoknagar, MG Road — one of Bengaluru’s prime commercial hubs.As per the lease document, BlackRock will ..

L&T Bags Rs 25–50 Bn Order for Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train Track Works

Larsen & Toubro’s (L&T) Transportation Infrastructure business has secured an order valued between Rs 25 crore and Rs 50 billion from the National High Speed Rail Corporation Limited (NHSRCL) for the Mumbai-Ahmedabad High Speed Rail (MAHSR) corridor.The contract, Package T1, involves the design, supply, construction, testing, and commissioning of 156 route km of high-speed ballastless track on a Design-Build Lump Sum Price basis. The stretch runs from Mumbai’s Bandra-Kurla Complex to Zaroli village in Gujarat and includes 21 km of underground track and 135 km of elevated viaduct.Se..