New Delhi The government on Tuesday launched yet another scheme for electric vehicles – the Prime Minister Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) – with the Minister for Heavy Industries H. D. Kumaraswamy saying efforts will be continued to ensure that the country moves towards cleaner and sustainable mobility.
However, sources in the EV industry told businessline that there has been no disbursal of subsidies under the previous Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) 2024, which has now been subsumed under the PM E-DRIVE scheme. The EMPS was rolled out with a fund allocation of ₹778 crore for the period between April 1 and September 30, 2024. PM E-DRIVE with a budget outlay of ₹10,900 crore subsumes the ongoing EMPS-2024 to expand the scope of the government’s electric mobility initiatives.
According to industry estimates, 5,00,080 electric two-wheelers have been sold between April and August, and if calculated at ₹10,000 per vehicle (subsidy amount as per the scheme), there is more than ₹500 crore pending for disbursal from the government’s side.
No disbursal
For the moment, EV companies are shelling out the amount from their own coffers in the hope that they would soon get it from the government. But the reality is that the EMPS expired on Monday and there has been no disbursal of any amount since it began in April.
“There has been no disbursement of any EMPS subsidy since April 1, 2024. The portal (for issuing certificates under EMPS) was started in July. But it has too many issues. It keeps throwing up complications. We, on the other hand, have been selling our vehicles at a discount (subsidised amount) to customers because we can’t ask them to wait till the subsidy comes to us,” an electric two-wheeler manufacturer told businessline.
The government admits that subsidy disbursal is stuck but contends that this is owing to issues from the industry side as well.
“Yes, the amounts are pending because they (dealers/ OEMs) enter the names of the customers wrongly in the Vahan website and mismatch with the Vahan data and they get rejected. So, we ask the companies to give the correct names to re-examine...the scheme ended on September 30 and claims will be filed after four months...the OEMs have the time to file (applications for subsidies) for four months. So, they must have filed for ₹150-200 crore till now and we have disbursed around ₹90 crore,” Hanif Qureshi, Additional Secretary, MHI, told businessline.
EMPS Portal
The Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) had delayed setting up the EMPS portal and the manufacturers had to send the applications manually for subsidies. The portal started working only from July, whereas the scheme was rolled out in April, industry sources said.
“The portal was started late in July (as the EMPS kicked in from April) and it was quite a cumbersome process for everyone – from customers to dealers to OEMs (Original Equipment Manufacturers). The worst part is, after all this bureaucracy and complications, there is no disbursal of any amount. But we, as the OEM, have been selling vehicles to the customers, with the discounted price. Hopefully, the new PM E-DRIVE will ensure a smooth process, and we will get the subsidy amounts on time,” said another manufacturer.
“Navratri is already here and any delay in delivery of the vehicles during the festive period will be a big blow for us,” said a manufacturer.