Latest News | EV Ecosystem Stakeholders Welcome Interim Budget, Rue over High GST Rates

Kolkata, Feb 1 (PTI) Stakeholders in the electric vehicle (EV) ecosystem hailed the interim budget presented by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, asserting that it focuses on manufacturing and charging infrastructure.

RACE Energy Co-founder Arun Sreyas said as the battery swapping market is highly dependent on the lithium-ion variety, GST parity on swappable batteries is the need of the hour.

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It is expected that the issue will be addressed when the full budget will be presented later this year.

He also appreciated the budget's focus on supporting manufacturing and charging infrastructure.

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Charging station firm ElectricPe co-founder and CEO Avinash Sharma said the budget has supported the expected strong growth of the EV sector.

He said that changes in the GST rates for EV charging need to be made for the sector to witness unhindered growth.

It is expected that the lowering of GST rates for charging will make EVs more affordable for adoption, he said.

EV charging company ChargeUp co-founder and CEO Varun Goenka said the government's positive strides in the interim budget are welcome. However, challenging issues like high GST rates and lack of affordable financing for the critical EV infrastructure need an examination, he added.

(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)