New Delhi, Mar 26 (PTI) Delhi has emerged as the 'EV Capital of India' within 18 months of the launch of Delhi Electric Vehicles Policy-2020, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said on Saturday.

The share of EVs in the sale of new vehicles has increased from 1.2 per cent in 2019-20 to 10 per cent in February 2022, he said.

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Delhi has become the first state in India to cross the 10 per cent mark in the sale of electric vehicles, which is more than the share of such vehicles in many developed countries like the UK, France and Singapore, said Sisodia who also holds the finance portfolio.

"With the increasing share of EVs, 20,000 new jobs will be created in the next five years in electric vehicles sales, repair and maintenance, operation and maintenance of charging stations," he said while presenting the Budget for 2022-23 fiscal.

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"In concurrence with the Supreme Court, we will issue 5,000 e-auto permits every year for the next five years and this will create 25,000 new jobs," the deputy chief minister said.

The Delhi Electric Vehicles policy -- introduced in August 2020 -- aims at increasing the EV share in total vehicle sales to 25 per cent by 2024.

The Delhi government has taken a conscious decision to move towards electric vehicles in a bid to reduce air pollution in the capital.

In January, Delhi had notified an "aggregator's policy" under which ride aggregators and delivery services will have to mandatorily adopt electric vehicles while procuring new fleets.

Aggregators and delivery services will need to ensure that 50 per cent of all new two-wheelers and 25 per cent of all new four-wheelers are electric by March 2023.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)