Budget 2020: What can the EV startups expect?

By Amit Gupta,

It is important to create a framework for making debt capital available to EV startups. The government and especially nationalized banks can collectively work together to support startups and companies in the segment. Hence Government's consideration of loan guarantee schemes to encourage banks to lend to EV manufacturers and operators, with parity on lending terms would go a long way. 

It is essential to have dedicated and accessible Parking Space for shared mobility vehicles at all metro stations to enable Multi-Modal Integration and First and Last Mile connectivity. There is a need to create Footpaths & Non-Motorized Transport (NMT) Lanes within 5 Km of all current/future metro stations under the Metro Rail Policy. The need of the hour is to promote mobility as a service using EVs.

We also recommend that incentives must be given for purchasing ‘low speed’ EVs as this will enable sustained provision of affordable and environment-friendly transportation options for the masses. Currently, Startups offering mobility as a service using electric vehicles are mandated to charge 18% GST on their revenue, rather we propose parity with GST chargeable to OEMs on their EV revenue (5%). With regards to the tier-II cities, we would request the government to provide Viability Gap Funding (VGF) support to make shared-mobility available and viable. Overall, we recommend a national policy for parking infrastructure for shared mobility must be created.

(Amit Gupta is the Co-Founder & CEO of YULU)