Jobs in the country’s electric vehicle sector may receive a boost in the coming years fueled by the Interim Budget promise to support EV manufacturing and charging infrastructure, said staffing companies and company officials.
This will help increase the production and adoption of EVs and boost employment in the sector, said experts.
“About 2.5 lakh direct and indirect jobs could potentially be created in the next 4-5 years,” said Kartik Narayan, CEO – staffing, Teamlease Services.
“India currently has about 7,000 charging stations and needs about 50,000 in the next 5 years. One charging station thumb rule is approximate 5 jobs – direct and indirect,” he added.
Direct jobs would include site engineers, deployment specialists, service technicians, among others.
“The availability of public chargers across the country will significantly grow and EV companies will find higher market acceptance from its consumers and also attract investor interest,” said Dinesh Arjun, Co-founder and CEO, Raptee Energy.
“This will also break the ‘range anxiety’, the biggest barrier for EV adoption in our country and encourage entrepreneurs to do deeper innovation in the battery management segment and other technologies,” Arjun added.
“EV companies will also enjoy a deeper vendor ecosystem providing battery and other components for building make-in-India EV vehicles,” he said.
The planned expansion of manufacturing will likely lead to increased production capacities, fostering innovation and competitiveness, said Pratik Kamdar, CEO & Co-Founder Neuron Energy.
“There is also an anticipated outcome in the form of economic empowerment which will equip the youth with valuable technical skills, ensuring a robust workforce for the manufacturing of EV chargers, and associated equipment,” said Kamdar.
The finance minister in her interim Budget speech on Thursday said that the government will expand and strengthen the e-vehicle ecosystem by supporting manufacturing and charging infrastructure. Greater adoption of e-buses for public transport networks will be encouraged through payment security mechanisms.
Kartik of Teamlease is of the view that “with India’s current tally of around 7,000 charging stations starkly contrasted against China’s 1.1 million, this government initiative, in tandem with the FAME scheme, is poised to not only catalyse the adoption of electric vehicles but also to stimulate job creation within the entire ecosystem of charging infrastructure.”
