Govt of India exempts registration & road taxes for Electric Cars and 2 Wheeler vehicle: Smooth insurance and smooth EV infra financing are next in the row to ensure Ease of Doing Business says Abhijeet Sinha Director Ease of Doing Business at ASSAR.
The cost of electric vehicles and renewal of registration for the electric vehicle is to be exempted shortly. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a draft notification, proposing to exempt Battery Operated Vehicles (BOV) from payment of fees for the purpose of issue or renewal of Registration Certificate (RC) and assignment of new registration.
Previously centre mandated battery operated vehicle to have ‘Green Number Plates’ and using the discretion over registration and road tax as a ‘State Subject’ many EV enthusiastic states had already exempted EVs from paying registration fee in their state. Still Union nod on this for pan India is being seen as a positive step to accelerate EV adoption.
Road tax is paid during the registration of a vehicle in a particular state. It is levied along with the goods and services tax (GST) and directly impacts the price of a new vehicle. Each state had a different formula for calculating the tax rate and till year 2020 we were discussing ‘One Nation One Road Tax’. This pan India exemption has saved EV from this debate and brought EV charging infra in center stage where govt has been seen playing a key role as of now. But the foremost next obstacle of EV would continue having it dependency on government? OR Govt would actually be able to simplify the issues related to Financing, Leasing and Insuring EV charging infra to attract banks, private and foreign investors; is the next question e-mobility industry has about Ease of Doing Business in the sector.
“I see these two a less open subject to discuss because EV manufacturers has to actually deal with insurance and banks largely to get their vehicle listed for ‘insurance’ and ‘vehicle loans’ not buyers. And processing happen at vehicle showroom as part of sale which makes it look smoother. But these things are quite tough for a charge operator or investor to get funding, credit, lease or insurance of an EV Charging infra without which EV adoption in mainstream is still a distant dream.” says Abhijeet Sinha.
