India's electric vehicle journey so far: A story of nudges and trudges

Business Standard chronicles India's efforts over the years to push a faster adoption of electric vehicles

The concept of electric vehicles (EVs) has been around for a fairly long time, but it has drawn significant interest only in the past decade. While rising carbon footprint and other environmental impacts of the fuel-based vehicles have nudged policymakers the world over to look seriously at EVs, India’s efforts have so far yielded very little.

The country made its first concrete decision to incentivise EVs in 2010, when, under a Rs 95-crore scheme approved by the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), the government announced financial incentives for manufacturers of electric vehicles sold in India. 

Since then, the