V. Vishnu, MD and CEO of the Guidance Bureau under the Tamil Nadu government, asserts that the state’s policies on industrial growth, including electric mobility, have remained remarkably consistent over the years, regardless of the ruling regime. This has helped in bringing consistent growth and attracting some of the large automobile and supply chain companies to the state.
“Tamil Nadu’s growth story is because of the policy stability that has been consistent across the regimes,” he said during a panel discussion titled ‘Policy Enablers and Regulatory Impact’ as part of the Indian EV Convention, organised by Autocar Professional and the Government of Tamil Nadu.
Growth of EV manufacturing sector
Vishnu highlighted that the growth of the EV manufacturing sector in Tamil Nadu is built on the foundation of automotive supply chain linkages in the state. Tamil Nadu’s automotive clusters included some of the largest auto majors, which included the likes of Hyundai, Nissan, TVS, Mahindra, and Daimler, among others.
Tamil Nadu government officials emphasised that the strong manufacturing ecosystem in the state has encouraged new entrants like Ather Electric, Ola Electric, Ampere, and others to establish their EV manufacturing units in the state.
The government officials added that Tamil Nadu has been seeking to facilitate and support the manufacturing of EVs and components, particularly EV cell technologies, batteries, EVSE, and charging infrastructure, in the state with an “EV Special Manufacturing Package”. The Government of Tamil Nadu seeks to provide manufacturing firms operating in the EV sector with a flexible incentive package through the EV Special Manufacturing Package instead of a one-size-fits-all model.
The multiple options provided under the package shall be beneficial for firms operating across the EV manufacturing value chain, viz., OEMs, component manufacturing, battery manufacturing, and charging infrastructure manufacturing, by allowing them the choice based on their business models and cashflows.