GST: M&M to set up new battery assembly unit near Pune after 12% levy

Automaker will invest in building long-range electric vehicles, high-power battery packs

Homegrown automajor Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) has decided to expand its electric vehicle ecosystem by setting up a battery assembly unit at its Chakan facility near Pune. The company will assemble 5,000 battery packs every month by mid-2019 for use in its electric vehicles. Company announcement comes less than a week after the government decided to tax electric vehicles at a much lower rate of 12 per cent under the GST regime, while imposing a tax of 28 per cent on hybrid cars that will also attract a 15 per cent cess. 

“The time has now arrived for electric vehicles