Maharashtra won’t implement proposed 6% tax on high-end EVs: CM Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday announced in the legislative council that the government won’t implement its proposed 6 per cent tax on electric vehicles (EVs) priced above Rs 30 lakh.

The CM said the move will unlikely generate enough revenue and also undermine the government’s EV push.

The announcement came while Fadnavis was responding to a question by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab during a discussion in the Upper House on EVs and air pollution.

Parab raised concerns over the proposed tax, saying it would go against the Centre’s efforts to promote non-polluting EVs through various incentives.

“The Maharashtra government’s proposal to levy a 6 per cent tax on EVs above Rs 30 lakh would be counter-productive and contradict the broader objective of encouraging clean mobility,” Parab said.

Fadnavis conceded and said the government has concluded that the tax won’t generate significant revenue.

“It could send a wrong signal about our commitment to electric mobility. Therefore, the state government will not go ahead with the 6 per cent tax on high-end electric vehicles,” he said.

The Maharashtra government had proposed the tax on electric vehicles priced more than Rs 30 lakh in the budget for the financial year 2025-26.

Earlier, the CM said in the House that the state was emerging as the “national capital” of EVs with major manufacturing plants coming up in Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

Speaking during Question Hour in the legislative council, he said the shift to EVs from conventional vehicles will reduce air pollution.

“Maharashtra is becoming the national capital of electric vehicles. This is primarily because significant EV manufacturing plants are being established in Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar,” he said.

"The contribution of vehicles (running on petrol or diesel) to air pollution is the highest. A shift towards electric vehicles will help reduce this problem," the chief minister added.

Both private and public transport sectors are increasingly adopting EVs and more than 2,500 electric buses are being added to the public transport sector in the state in a phased manner, Fadnavis said.

"The number of electric vehicles being registered in the state is steadily rising. Over 50 per cent of newly registered vehicles are now EVs," he said.

The government was also building supporting infrastructure, including a large-scale EV charging network across the state, the CM said.