GST Council may reduce tax on lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicle supply equipment
GST Council may reduce tax on lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicle supply equipment
The NITI Aayog released the much-awaited draft policy on battery swapping for electric two- and three-wheelers on Thursday, following a series of e-vehicle catching fire incidents.
Its highlights include decreasing EV pricing, increasing the adoption of battery-powered vehicles, addressing anomalies in GST rates for batteries, EV supply equipment, and improving the safety and performance of advanced cell chemistry.
This comes almost three months after Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman outlined the new policy in her Budget speech. She said that the initiative aims to accelerate India's transition to green transportation.
The think tank has invited feedback from stakeholders on the proposed policy. The deadline for feedback is June 5.
The policy calls for a two-phased implementation.
The first step is creating an ecosystem for the battery as a service (BaaS) in cities with populations greater than 4 million.
The second phase entails establishing battery-swapping networks in state capitals and big cities with populations greater than 500,000.
The NITI Aayog has proposed that incentives for cars with fixed batteries be extended to vehicles with swappable batteries. The research group also pushed for switching station fixed-asset concessions.
It proposed that the GST Council minimise the rate differentials between lithium-ion batteries and electric vehicle supply equipment (EVSE), which are now 18% and 5%, respectively.
According to industry experts and EV manufacturers, the draft policy was comprehensive and covered the majority of the essential issues.
Post a Comment