At least three major electric bus and lithium-ion (Li-Ion) battery manufacturing companies have expressed interest in setting up plants in Telangana with an investment of ₹ 4,600 crore, which could potentially generate employment to about 4,200 persons.
While the bus manufacturer was Mytrah which proposed an investment of ₹ 2,000 crore and land requirement of 100 acres, the Li-Ion cell and battery manufacturers were Exicom and Chargexo. Another leading bus manufacturer, Olectra Greentech-BYD, and electric three-wheeler manufacturers Gayam Motor Works have already their manufacturing bases in Telangana.
The State government was establishing an energy park at Divitapally and would create a new electric vehicles park while utilising the existing electronic manufacturing clusters at Raviryal and Maheswaram for the purpose, a meeting of the Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao was informed on Wednesday.
The Cabinet approved on the occasion Telangana State Electric Vehicles and Energy Storage Solutions policy aimed at encouraging and promoting use of electrical vehicles to decrease air pollution. The companies which came forward to produce electric vehicles would be given incentives.
The policy was built upon Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) - Phase II scheme of the Central government implemented from last year to increase the number of electric vehicles in commercial fleets.
The incentives offered as part of the policy were: 100% exemption of road tax and registration fee for first 2 lakh units of electric two-wheelers, first 20,000 units of electric three-seater auto-rickshaws, first 5,000 units of electric four-wheeler commercial passenger vehicles such as taxis and tourist cabs, first 10,000 units of electric light goods carriers, including three-wheeler goods, first 5,000 units of electric private cars and first 500 e-buses.
The other incentives and subsidies for mega industries were: capital investment subsidy up to 20% of investment capped at ₹ 30 crore, 100% net State Goods and Services Tax reimbursement for seven years capped at ₹ 25 crore, and power tariff discount of 25% for five years capped at ₹5 crore. Electricity duty exemption, interest subvention, transportation subsidy and registration fee reimbursement were also proposed for all units irrespective of their size.
The policy was aimed at making Telangana a major base for electric vehicles and energy storage sectors, and attracting investment. It was also proposed to generate demand for battery storage solutions by driving electric vehicles adoption.
