At the CII-NID Design Summit, Chief Managing Director of Mahindra & Mahindra, Anand Mahindra expressed his discontentment over the lack of support rendered by the Government of India in promoting electric vehicles. He even asked the government to grant subsidies to car makers for producing environment friendly cars. “We have been disappointed because we were banking on a subsidy that the government had in place for electric cars which has expired. The government was committed to maintain it but has not done so far. So, that has put a sticker price hurdle," he said.
Voicing the need for implementation of favourable policies to promote eco-friendly cars, Mahindra said “I think the government has to come back and step in, and weigh in favour of the new rules." It must be noted that in March last year, the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) exhausted a plan in which additional benefits were offered for electric car buyers. Under the scheme, on every purchase of electric vehicle, the buyers were given a subsidy of about 20 per cent with Rs. 4000 to 5000 cash discount on electric two-wheelers while the same on electric cars was Rs. 1 lakh.
The Government of India later on replaced the scheme with National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020, which came into effect on January 2014. With this plan, the government is looking at about seven million electric and hybrid vehicles to hit the Indian roads in seven years from now. The cost estimated for giving full support to car makers in order to produce electric vehicles was Rs. 13000 crore to Rs. 14000 crore in the tune of next 5 to 6 years.
The scope of electric cars in India is very bleak right now as Mahindra & Mahindra is one of the very few auto makers that have ventured into manufacturing of the same. It launched its first electric vehicle known as e2o that has an on-road price of Rs. 5.96 lakh in New Delhi. The electric car, e2o is a product of the takeover of Reva by Mahindra & Mahindra.
Recently, India Design Council (IDC), signed a pack with UK Design Council at the CII-NID Design Summit. The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between the two is to facilitate cooperation between India and UK for promotion of design. Under this MoU, the primary focus will be on exchanging design policies thereby facilitating promotion of designing ideas between the two countries.
A thing to note here is that IDC works autonomously as it was set-up by Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP), Ministry of Commerce and Industry while the UK Design Council is a charity organisation incorporated by the Royal Charter. As Anand Mahindra is also the President of the India Design Council (IDC), he addressed the audiences at the CII-NID Design Summit. He said “The MoU will facilitate exploration of design issues critical to India and the UK and promote exchange of ideas. It will help develop capability, increase knowledge and encourage businesses to use design."
