BHEL looks to tap NPCI to charge up govt's EV drive

State-run Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd (BHEL) will seek the expertise of unified payments interface (UPI)-maker National Payments Corp. of India (NPCI) to develop a digital app with an integrated payments mechanism for a nationwide network of electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, three officials said.

- Manas Pimpalkhare & Rituraj Baruah

BHEL is likely to be nominated to lead the tendering process for 72,300 EV public charging stations under the ₹10,900-crore PM E-Drive scheme, Mint reported on 16 June.

The Centre's marquee scheme to incentivize green mobility has allocated ₹2,000 crore to subsidize electric vehicle charging stations, but the PM E-Drive scheme has only about eight months left in its runtime.