NEW DELHI: Tata Motors has sought targeted incentives for entry-level electric vehicles and support to the electric cars used in the fleet segment under the PM E-DRIVE scheme in the upcoming Union Budget.
Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles MD-CEO Shailesh Chandra said while government interventions such as GST 2.0, repo rate reduction and tax regime changes have revived demand in the passenger vehicle industry, entry-level EVs continue to face pressure.
“Two things which can be considered (in the Budget). One there is a lot of pressure on the entry segment on the EV side and if the government would like to consider some level of incentives,” he said. There is enhanced pressure on the entry-level EVs with GST reforms leading to reduction in prices of petrol cars, Chandra said.
“The government last year took significant steps. The big one has been the GST 2.0 but apart from that, there has been repo rate reduction, tax regime change and all. So I think the government has done a significant intervention to spruce up the demand for the overall PV industry,” he noted.
Chandra also highlighted that the EVs used in the fleet segment account for just 7 per cent of the overall PV sales but contribute nearly 33-35 per cent of passenger kilometers.
He noted that the electric cars used in the fleet segment were part of the FAME-2 scheme but have somehow missed inclusion in the PM E-Drive scheme.
On whether it is also looking at increasing vehicle prices, Chandra said forex woes and elevated commodity prices have an impact of 2 per cent on the company’s revenues which it has not been able to pass on to the consumers.
“Certain levels of cost reduction we have been able to do, but in the coming days, we will decide when and how much we are going to increase the price. It will get announced in the coming days,” he added.