Budget 2019: Electric vehicle industry expectations

By Anand Mohan

The electric vehicle industry is emerging as its own entity within the automotive industry and it looks like government think-tank NITI Aayog is working towards bolstering this new identity.

We expect a defined roadmap for the EV industry in this budget with a clear timeline for new and existing manufacturers to work with. It’s an excellent opportunity to structure the industry to perform efficiently and cost-effectively.

We look forward to steps taken in assisting setup of electric vehicle component manufacturers, grants for research and development and EV infrastructure development in the country. We also except the proposed reduction in GST for EVs from 12 to 5 percent to be announced as well as a move to bring the cost of batteries down by reducing GST from 18 to 12 percent.

While Polarity Smart Bikes doesn’t depend heavily on charging infrastructure, any move to set up charging infrastructure will help the EV industry as a whole. Scaling up B2B acceptability of EVs can be made a priority in this budget while the B2C business picks up.

We also look forward to considerations in CSR as the use of Electric Vehicles is environmentally friendly. As a Startup seeking investment, we are hopeful of relief on Angel Tax as its one of the key inhibitions in angel investment.

Anand Mohan is Co-founder, Polarity Smart Bikes, a Pune based electric vehicle start-up.