JOIN USMaharashtra and leading Indian businesses collaborate on bolder EV action
The Government of Maharashtra and international non-profit, Climate Group, jointly brought together leading businesses to collaborate on bolder EV targets in the State.
On Friday, Maharashtra environment, tourism and protocol minister Aaditya Thackeray spoke with CEOs and senior representatives from leading businesses including Flipkart, IKEA India and Zomato, that have committed to Climate Group’s leading global initiative on electric vehicles, EV100.
The event also saw participation from Amazon India, MoEVing and the World Economic Forum.
Last year, Maharashtra became the first Indian State to partner with the global EV100 initiative.
Maharashtra has set ambitious EV targets, and its EV policy, released in July 2021, is armed with economic incentives to enhance demand and supply for personal and commercial use.
While supporting the deployment of EV charging infrastructure, the policy also exempts road tax and registration fees on all new EVs, among other fiscal and non-fiscal incentives.
At the event, the government welcomed input and feedback from companies to help the latter better leverage the provisions and incentives under the State's EV policy. Businesses participating in the event presented their electrification targets, action plans and progress made so far.
They also deliberated on the role of current demand incentives to drive a transition of 25 per cent by 2025 as directed in the western State's EV policy. Corporate leaders at the event requested the State to consider further incentives, including leveraging mainstream finance to facilitate
uptake of EV targets. Other discussion points included non-monetary incentives (such as zeroemission zones) and ambitious targets for 100 per cent electrification by 2030. "We are keen to transform Maharashtra into a thriving hub for clean transport in the country. Through EV100, we want to keep the dialogue open with the industry to ensure better uptake of our EV policy. We invite businesses to take full advantage of the incentives we have been offering within the clean transport ecosystem,” said Thackeray.
Divya Sharma, India Executive Director at Climate Group, said: "We welcome Maharashtra Government's leadership on EV transition. The inter-sectoral contributions of states and businesses will be critical in pursuing ambitious decarbonisation targets to build a clean vehicle future. Continued collaboration on Maharashtra's policy mandate with EV100 companies will open long-term and broader economic opportunities across the State."
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