Electric motorcycle maker Revolt Motors has deposited ₹50 crore to the government, as penalty fined by the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) for violating the guidelines under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme.

“We had issued a notice to Revolt regarding the government subsidy being misused by them amounting to ₹44.30 crore. So, they have deposited a cheque of ₹50.02 crore, including interest rates, to the government earlier this week, which is being encashed on Thursday,” Hanif Qureshi, Joint Secretary, MHI, told reporters here.

In 2022, there were complaints against 13 companies, out of which seven were found to be violating against the guidelines (putting imported parts in the vehicles and taking subsidies from the government) and they were imposed fines totalling ₹469 crore under the FAME-II scheme.

These seven companies included Hero Electric (₹133.8 crore), Okinawa Autotech (₹116.85 crore), Ampere Vehicles (₹124.91 crore), Benling India (₹48.42 crore), Amo Mobility (₹83 lakh), Lohia Auto (₹11 lakh) and Revolt.

On asked whether the government would allow Revolt for a fresh application for getting the subsidies, Qureshi said that , Revolt can send a ‘fresh application’. The MHI will take the final call, he added.

On other companies who have not paid their dues, he said, “We have given them a personal hearing and told them that we would deregister them from the scheme. Now, we are going to issue a final order that your documents have been examined and once that is done, we will take measures to recover the money...the final decision could be the civil and criminal action against them for cheating the government,” Qureshi said, adding that MHI will give them a few more weeks to take a call.

He said the companies can also be debarred from all schemes of MHI and government schemes.

SMEV office-bearers

Meanwhile, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) on Thursday said it has appointed R K Misra, Co-Founder of Yulu Bikes and Director at Magna Yuma, as its new President for 2023-24.

The electric two-wheeler body also named Akshay Kashyap, Umesh Balani and Anadi N Sinha as Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer, respectively.

Kashyap is Managing Director of Greenfuel Energy Solutions; Balani is Managing Director of Rotomag Group; Sinha is Director, Group Corporate Affairs at Uno Minda.

Last month, SMEV had temporarily suspended its present constitution while appointing former BJP spokesperson Sanjay Kaul as its Chief Evangelist to help revise the agenda of the association. Kaul will continue in his role as Chief Evangelist.