BENGALURU: Electric Vehicle (EV) industry experts have welcomed two of the measures announced in the Centre’s budget. One was the move to reduce Goods and Services tax rate on EVs from 12 to 5 per cent, and secondly, giving income tax deduction of up to Rs 1.5 lakh on the interest paid for loans taken by consumers to purchase these vehicles. “These two measures are a major boost for end consumers to purchase EVs. The problem at present is we do not have compelling products in the market,” said Tarun Mehta, CEO and co-founder of Ather Energy.
Amit Gupta, co-founder & CEO of Yulu, said,”The budget will boost EV manufacturing in India by providing an exemption of customs duties on certain parts of electric vehicles.”
Dr Mridula Dixit Bharadwaj, CSTEP said, “Incentivizing advance battery systems is an important step towards reducing the cost of EVs.”
However, the move to exempt custom duties on certain parts of electric vehicles evoked a mixed response. Tarun Mehta said the exemption of custom duties would not help local players.