The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) has sought a revised policy to incentivise electric vehicles in the country. It has called for a policy that includes funds for encouraging local manufacturing of Lithium batteries, Mint has reported.

The central government has asked for a reworking of the Rs 5,500 crore proposed incentives to promote electric and hybrid vehicles through the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid Vehicles (FAME) scheme. The PMO asked for an update on the scheme days before the recently concluded Global Mobility Summit in New Delhi.

The PMO does not want the electric mobility plan to be a repetition of the solar power push of the government which made the scheme dependent on solar panels manufactured in China. Therefore, the PMO wants the Ministry of Heavy Industries to ensure that a local manufacturing ecosystem is developed in India to supply lithium batteries for electric vehicles.

To ensure the success of electric mobility plans of India, the country will have to depend on imported Lithium and Cobalt as it does not have any reserves of its own. Latin America and Australia have Lithium reserves which can be acquired by India to provide the raw materials for its local battery manufacturing ecosystem. Meanwhile, China is rapidly capturing Li-ion battery production, in its latest move to secure its position in the world industry.