PLI auto scheme for e2Ws needs to be revisited

Months after Ather Energy's initial public offering (IPO), cofounder & chief executive officer (CEO) Tarun Mehta discusses policy hurdles, why premium electric vehicles are the future, and how the company is gearing up for the next phase of expansion, in an interview with Surajeet Das Gupta in Bengaluru.

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Ather has been operating at a disadvantage by not qualifying for the government's PLI scheme, which offers incentives of 13-16 per cent. How do you cope with what you've called a 'non-level playing field'?

The production-linked incentive (PLI) auto scheme had gaps that excluded promising players like us from applying, and that needs to be fixed. We're the only startup in India to build an electric vehicle (EV), achieve scale, and acquire our technology — yet we don't qualify for it. That's a missed opportunity. Ather continues to work under this disadvantage, but the policy needs to be revisited.

Even legacy auto players with large cash reserves were given PLI benefits. Is that how the policy should work?

Legacy players have crores to invest in EVs. They would have done it anyway when a challenger enters the space. PLI should've been directed at startups — the real pushers of innovation. Today, PLI is like a wall that new EV players climb to push larger players with more money to build electric. We are pushing back the country's electrification efforts by not supporting true startups that have invested in R&D and product development, and are unable to benefit from this scheme.

Have you raised these concerns with the government?