Chhattisgarh govt approves electric vehicle policy to create employment

The Chhattisgarh government on Thursday approved its Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy 2022 to make the state an EV-manufacturing hub, create employment, and reduce environment degradation.

Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel gave approval to the policy at a cabinet meeting.

The government has set a target of five years in having EVs accounting for 15 per cent of the new registrations of vehicles, individual or commercial.

EV manufacturers will be given exemptions (manufacturing EVs, components of EVs, EV battery and charging infrastructure)  under the policy. Establishing charging infrastructure will be mandatory in the housing policy of the state (making charging points mandatory in residential and commercial complexes). Charging stations will come up in government buildings and private ones.

The policy ensures training in skills in EVs and encourages manufacturing in EV technology. It also calls upon existing automobile manufacturers to diversify into EV manufacturing.

The state government has announced reimbursing 100 per cent state goods and services tax (SGST) and registration fees on sales of electric buses and electric goods carriages in the state during the five-year policy period. It will reimburse SGST also for manufacturing EVs in the state during the period.

The government will have industrial plans for supporting the state’s EV vision. It will also introduce an online portal for information regarding EVs and charging infrastructure, applying for EV-related incentives, etc.

Companies manufacturing EVs, components of EVs and EV batteries, and charging infrastructure will get capital subsidies.

The state government will allocate 500-1,000 acres for developing an EV park, which will have an incubation centre for start-ups.

There will be platforms and programmes for industry participation and exploring possibilities of entering into MoUs with lithium cell/EV auto components to start manufacturing in the state.

The policy will provide a capital subsidy of 25 per cent to select energy operators for charging equipment/machinery in the case of the first 300 fast-charging stations in the state. This will be up to Rs 10 lakh per station.

The state government will also provide 100 per cent SGST reimbursement to energy operators for purchasing batteries to be used in switching/swapping stations.