Mobility: Budget sops to give an ‘electrifying’ start

The budget 2019-20 has given much-needed sops to accelerate electric mobilitythough the auto industry was disappointed that no announcement was there to pull it up from the current slowdown.

Amid auto industry’s noise over the deadline and other mandates, the budget sops clearly indicate that that the government feels electric mobility is the next big thing and it is committed to it.

The major sops in the Budget 2019-20 include an indication of a possible GST rate cut from 12 per cent to five per cent on electric vehicles, an income tax deduction of ₹1.5 lakh on the interest paid on loans taken to buy electric vehicles. “This amounts to a benefit of about ₹2.5 lakh over the loan period to the taxpayers who take loans to purchase an electric vehicle,” Union Finance Minister Nirmala Seetharaman said in her budget speech.