What is India’s latest approach to localising EV manufacturing? Premium

The scheme reduces existing duties on import of vehicles for overseas manufacturers from the present 70-100% to 15% subject to the maker meeting minimum requirements for investment and setting up facilities in the country.

More than a year since it was announced, the Ministry of Heavy Industries Monday notified guidelines of the Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars in India. The scheme reduces existing duties on import of vehicles for overseas manufacturers from the present 70-100% to 15% subject to the maker meeting minimum requirements for investment and setting up facilities in the country. However, Union Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy indicating luxury EV maker Tesla’s unwillingness to manufacture in India have prompted concerns about the promise of the scheme.

Also Read | Centre notifies guidelines to boost electric car production

At the centre of the notified policy is the provision to reduce customs duty on the import of ready-to-ship completely assembled electric four-wheelers to 15%. This would apply to all vehicles valued at $35,000 - circumscribing cost, insurance and freight (CIF) - for a period of five years. However, this would be subject to the manufacturer investing a minimum of ₹4,150 crore over the next three years. They would also be expected to build infrastructure and facilities to enable 25% of the overall manufacturing activity be undertaken domestically (domestic value addition, or DVA) within three years, and 50% within five years. MHI specifies that a maximum of 8,000 vehicles can be imported at the reduced duty rate in a year with no carrying over of unutilised limits. The maximum duty permitted to be foregone under the scheme has been capped at ₹6,484 crore. Broadly, the objective of the overall scheme is to find a midway point where affordability for a captive market is attained, whilst also recognising that import substitution would require a layered approach and a protracted timeline. 

MHI calculated that an imported vehicle valued at $35,000 (₹29.75 lakh) would now be liable to pay basic customs duty of ₹4.6 lakh at the reduced 15% rate compared to ₹20.8 lakhs at the erstwhile 70% rate. Therefore, combining with IGST levied at 5% on the resulting value, the total foregone duty amount to ₹17.2 lakh with the final landing cost coming to about ₹36 lakh. Now, in line with an initial investment of ₹4,150 crore and a foregone duty of ₹17.2 lakh for each vehicle, the maker would be allowed to import 24,155 units in total.

EDITORIAL | ​Falling short: On India’s EV journey

Shouvik Chakraborty, Assistant Research Professor at the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (U.S.) argues that a domestic industrial policy aligned with a vision for future could be a step in the right direction. Although he holds the current policy would bode well for India only if there is sharing of technology with domestic automakers. Further, he observes, “Countries these days are extremely cautious about transferring technology outside (to maintain their competitive advantage). In that light, India must not become a domestic hub for producing components of a vehicle.”  

Dinesh Abrol, adjunct faculty at the Transdisciplinary Research Cluster on Sustainable Studies at JNU in Delhi, observes that no foreign firm has ever helped build some other country’s ecosystem. He attributed China and South Korea’s ability to build manufacturing setups to their focus on skilling, research and development alongside undertaking innovation projects. “This enabled conditions for a technology transfer and prompting companies to come and invest into the ecosystem,” he states. Essential to note, China as the leading manufacturer of EVs accounted for 70% of the global manufacturing in 2024.