Amitabh Kant calls for an increase in the production of electric vehicles in India so that it doesn’t lag behind other global powers in the EV market.
New Delhi, December 13, 2024, Amitabh Kant, the former CEO of NITI Aayog-is calling for a “proactive transition” for the country to switch over to electric vehicles. “We are still selling typewriters in the digital age” in India compared to how far countries like China and Europe are ahead. He went ahead to say that there was a need for an even more aggressive ramp-up in India’s EV industry in terms of production and take-on rates while imploring that there was a very swift need for reality checkers for India.
Current Status
Fairly stark tabular presentations were made by Kant in his address: More than 50 per cent of vehicles in China are electric; about 10 per cent in Europe; India significantly trails, with just 2. But very clearly, this gap should be closed soon if India is to catch up, as per Kant. His clarion call to action went ahead with setting designer targets: 2030, 60 per cent EV adoption; and 2035, 100 per cent.
Need For Speed
“We are five years behind schedule.” According to Kant, this is going to keep happening for the next few years as the disruption will be tremendous in the industry of automobiles. He stated how India will lose a lot of space in the growing global EV market if swift actions are not taken. This analogy of selling typewriters in a digital age resonated with the most respected audience of the former NITI Aayog chief, addressing the feature of urgent modernisation needed in the automotive sector in India.
Impacts on Employment
It is quite clear that the Indian auto industry has 34 million employees, which makes it a lifeblood of the country’s economy. “It will be a loss of jobs for millions of employees,” warned Kant while advocating that adaptations made by the industry toward electric mobility were very sudden. Even though the moment towards EVs means an opening for growth, it also poses challenges for the jobs historically offered by the automotive industry if failure to manage them takes place.
Initiatives by Government
Kant mentioned how the Indian government launched an automobile production-linked incentive (PLI) scheme in 2021 but “not a single penny has gone” under that scheme. He urged consideration for scaling up EV production rather than just counting numbers. This scheme was meant to encourage home manufacturing and innovation in the electric vehicle sector, which has so far not shown any promising indications.
Using Global Relations
He also pointed to the need for India to leverage goodwill with the United States so that the latter may be interested in global tariff impositions on China. India should benefit from such measures by positioning itself rightly as an attractive choice for EV production. This will make investments and technology moves, which can uplift the Indian domestic industry.
Startup Ecosystem
The Indian start-ups would be appreciated by Kant as their innovative efforts contributed to the EV. He said that there were 1432 start-ups working on two-wheelers alone. Such a spirit can drive change through competition in the industry. Kant had stressed how legacy players would have meant slower progress by generations.
Call for Action
For India to become an incoming global leader in the EV market, bold and immediate action from government and industry stakeholders was what Kant called for. “A ten-time-greater initiative is needed in this,” he insisted to all parties involved.
Amitabh Kant’s comments at the Green Bharat Summit became a clarion call for the automotive sector in India. With consumption shifting to sustainable options and competition globally intensifying, this is exactly when India needs to up its game in producing and developing infrastructure for electric vehicles. Daring better now itself, or else India might get lost quite increasingly in an electric world. Hence, Amitabh Kant speaks on spreading up Indian transition projects vis-a-vis electric vehicles, as well as what an observer can expect from the current scenario concerning challenges and opportunities in the sector.
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