Bhartiya Micro Credit to hand over e-rickshaws to nearly 5,000 beneficiaries

Bhartiya Micro Credit (BMC) is in the process of completing formalities and all e-rickshaws will be handed over to the applicants within two weeks.

At a BMC event held in Noida on April 5, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had launched 5,100 e-rickshaws for NCR, but so far only a little over 200 vehicles have been handed over to beneficiaries.

"We have completed formalities for 209 e-rickshaw beneficiaries," Vijay Pandey, managing director, BMC said. "They have been asked to apply for e-rickshaw permit and registration with the transport department. We will hand over the remaining e-rickshaws to the applicants within the next two weeks," he said.

Justifying the price of BMC e-rickshaws, which is higher than those available in the market, Pandey said: "The BMC e-rickshaw is priced at Rs 1.33 lakh, which includes fee for regional transport office (RTO) permit, life insurance, certification of vehicle, maintenance cost, learner's licence fee, etc. With bank interest, the total cost comes to around Rs 1.69 lakh in two years against the market price of Rs 70,000."

The BMC offers different loan payment schemes for the beneficiaries with a daily payment of Rs. 220-240. However, there is lack of clarity on the loan payment.

"The scheme has flexibility and allows people to exit if they want. We will transfer the registration of vehicle and other documents in the name of another aspiring e-rickshaw driver," he said.

Source : BS Motoring