FAME-II: Govt sets up panel for monitoring, sanctioning of projects

The government has constituted an inter-ministerial panel for monitoring, sanctioning and implementation of projects under the Rs 10,000-crore FAME-II programme, aimed at incentivising clean mobility.

The Project Implementation and Sanctioning Committee will be chaired by the secretary in the Department of Heavy Industries and will have other members including NITI Aayog CEO, Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade secretary, Department of Economic Affairs secretary and secretaries in the power and new and renewable energy ministry, among others.

The Department of Heavy Industries, in an order, said the committee is constituted "for the purpose of overall monitoring, sanctioning and implementation of the scheme, with immediate effect and until further orders".

The panel's terms of reference includes modifying coverage parameters for various components and sub-components of the scheme, reviewing demand incentives annually or earlier based on price and technology trends, modifying limits of fund allocations among different segments and types of vehicles, reviewing the cap for maximum incentive per vehicle, and deciding other scheme parameters for its smooth roll out.

The Rs 10,000-crore programme under the second phase of the FAME India scheme will be implemented over a period of three years with effect from April 1, 2019.

Under phase-II of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles in India (FAME-II) scheme, 10 lakh registered electric two-wheelers with a maximum ex-factory price will be eligible to avail incentive of Rs 20,000 each.

It will also support 5 lakh e-rickshaws having ex-factory price of up to Rs 5 lakh with an incentive of Rs 50,000 each.

FAME-II will offer an incentive of Rs 1.5 lakh each to 35,000 electric four-wheelers with an ex-factory price of up to Rs 15 lakh, and incentive of Rs 13,000 each to 20,000 strong hybrid four-wheelers with ex-factory price of up to Rs 15 lakh. It will support 7,090 e-buses with an incentive of up to Rs 50 lakh each having ex-factory price of up to Rs 2 crore.

The scheme will have a Rs 1,500-crore outlay in 2019-20; Rs 5,000 crore in 2020-21 and Rs 3,500 crore in 2021-22. It will cover buses with EV technology; electric, plug-in hybrid and strong hybrid four wheelers; electric three-wheelers including e-rickshaws and electric two-wheelers.

FAME-II also proposes support for setting up of charging infrastructure whereby about 2,700 charging stations will be set up in metropolitan cities, other million-plus cities, smart cities and cities of hilly states across India.