KOCHI: Along with Karnataka, Telangana, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand, Kerala will have the first-mover advantage from the Centre’s push for EV regime in the budget. The state had announced a draft of its electric vehicle (EV) policy recently.
The budget has proposed tax sops for loans taken to buy electric vehicles to make these vehicles affordable to consumers. The government proposed an additional income tax benefit of Rs 1.5 lakh on interest on loans taken for electric vehicle purchase.
In its draft EV policy, Kerala has set a target of 10 lakh EVs by 2022. “Considering Kerala’s ambitious plan to roll out a million electric vehicles by 2020, the GST reduction from 12 per cent to 5 per cent and the income tax exemption of up to Rs 1.5 lakh for EV consumers will be a major boost to EV startups in Kerala since these measures are likely to boost the demand for such vehicles,” said Rohan Kalani, COO, Maker Village, Kochi.