Govt ready to promote electric 2wheelers: Jayant Sinha
NEW
DELHI: The government is almost ready with policies to promote electric
two-wheelers, Union Minister Jayant Sinha said.
The government is
facilitating equity capital for investors under various mechanism including
India Aspiration Fund, he said, while calling upon the big industries to invest
in the electric two-wheelers sector.
"Electric
vehicles are very strategic for us as an economy. We are working at policy
level to make this electric two-wheelers work," Minister of State for
Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha said at the 15th Darbari Seth Memorial Lecture
organised by leading energy think-tank Teri.
"Policies are
already in place both in transport and power ministries. What is required is
innovative models and financing..." he noted.
Stating that electric
two-wheelers are going to be game changer, Sinha said, "It is a massively
important sector. India today is the world's largest market for two-wheelers.
But they are petrol driven. We need to really make a transition to electric two
wheelers."
From policy
perspective, government is really driving towards making electric vehicles more
economical, practical and feasible for Indian conditions, he said.
He, however, said
batteries for electric two-wheelers is big problem area. "How do we
recharge these vehicles? How do we get right batteries. Tremendous research is
required in this area," the minister said.
He also emphasised on
using rooftop solar energy for recharging electric two-wheelers and called for
more innovation from scientific community. On financing of such projects, Sinha
said equity risk capital and not bank loans are very crucial for the sector.
"Do we have sources of equity risk capital in this country and investors
who are willing to put billions of dollars on new technology? I think we have
big financing gap in equity risk capital," he said.
Much of India's
industry especially pharma, telecom, IT and e-commerce are funded by venture
capitalists and private equity, and 90 per cent of which has come offshore and
not from domestic sources, he said.
It is due to this reason that the government is creating
institutions like India Aspiration Fund to provide sources for equity funding,
he added.
Source : Govt
ready to promote electric 2wheelers: Jayant Sinha