Govt plans easy access to affordable finance for EVs

After announcing policy initiatives to develop India as a hub for lithium-ion cell manufacturing, the government has been working on a range of measures to ensure the availability of affordable credit to the nascent electric vehicle industry.

The government’s policy think tank NITI Aayog has been working on series of measures to ensure banks and financial institutions offer credit at affordable rates to buyers of electric vehicles, and easy availability of finance for projects related to the development and production of such zero-emission vehicles.

The World Bank Group has been assisting the government to formulate these policy measures, said two people directly aware of the development, seeking anonymity. At present the lack of finance is considered a key hurdle to EV sales.