The UT administration has received INR 15 crore for paying incentives to buyers of electric vehicles (EVs) for this fiscal year, raising the budget three times as compared to INR 5 crore allotted last year from September when the new EV policy was launched.
The amount – earmarked in the 2023-2024 budget of the administration after assessing registration of EVs in the city – has been released to the department of science and technology for distribution according to applications and category of EVs purchased as specified by the administration in its policy.
“A good number of people came forward to take the benefit of the incentives in the last seven months when amount was INR 5 crore from September 2022. “We are hopeful the numbers will increase during this financial year significantly,” said an official.
The administration has taken multiple steps to promote EVs. A waiver on road tax on electric and hybrid vehicles as envisaged in the policy and capping on registration of non-electric vehicles are a few of them. For the first year, reduction of 10% in four-wheelers and 35% in two-wheelers as compared to preceding year is aimed by way of capping their registration.
Sources said a review meeting will be convened at the level of the UT adviser soon to examine the policy in a holistic manner and take more steps to make it more popular, feasible and result-oriented for both public as well as the city.
