Niti Moots Stiffer Norms for ICE Vehicles for Rapid EV Shift

The push comes in the wake of India lagging global EV growth and facing supply-chain risks.

- Manas Pimpalkhare

Nudges are not enough anymore. With India's electric vehicle (EV) adoption lagging behind global peers, Niti Aayog is pushing for a sharper pivot by proposing mandates, penalties, and steeper costs for fossil fuel vehicles to make the EV shift inevitable.

The proposals mark a strategic shift from a decade of subsidies and incentives to a model that actively disincentivizes petrol and diesel use.

In a policy report released Monday, the government think tank called for higher registration fees, tougher emission norms and increased input taxes on internal combustion engine vehicles.

Alongside city-level EV saturation pilots and targeted financing for electric buses and trucks, the push comes amid concerns over supply chain vulnerabilities, especially after China's export curbs on rare earth magnets.

Niti Aayog's roadmap aims to speed up India's path to net-zero by 2070 and close the gap with EV leaders such as China and the US.

The "Unlocking a $200 Billion Opportunity: Electric Vehicles in India" report has proposed tough vehicle emission standards, mandates for share of clean mobility in a fleet, higher registration fees and taxes on fossil fuel vehicles.