Heavy industry ministry's actions sabotaging FAME-II: SMEV to Niti Aayog

The Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles has written to Niti Aayog, urging to conduct a comprehensive review of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) II scheme and claimed that actions of the heavy industries ministry are "sabotaging" the policy.

In a letter to Niti Aayog Chairperson Suman K Berry, Society of Manufacturers of Electric Vehicles (SMEV) Secretary General Ajay Sharma said actions of the ministry over the past 18 months are likely to impact sales and substantially delay the process of electric vehicle (EV) adoption and penetration in the country.

The industry body pointed out withholding subsidies, demanding retrospective clawbacks of subsidies given in 2019, delisting companies from the NAB (National Automotive Board) portal, and the latest move to slash subsidies by the Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) and called them "a series of detrimental actions".

The "subsidy blockade, clawback notices, and embargo on future sales are ...