Delhi, Karnataka among top states in EV sales but No. 1 state may surprise you

Electric vehicle adoption has been increasing across India for the last couple of years. Accelerated by the pandemic-induced rising demand for personal mobility, electric two-wheelers are spearheading EV growth in India. Union road, transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari on Wednesday in Parliament revealed the list of top Indian states in EV sales.

Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka have emerged as the top three states in terms of electric vehicle registration. Nitin Gadkari also said that 870,141 electric vehicles have been registered in India. Uttar Pradesh has the highest number of EV registrations at 255,700 units, followed by Delhi at 125,347 units and Karnataka at 72,544 EVs. Among the top five states, Bihar with 58,014 EVs and Maharashtra with 52,506 electric vehicles were at fourth and fifth spots.

To push the electric vehicle sales, the central government introduced the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles in India (FAME India) scheme back in 2015. Again in April 2019, the government introduced FAME II for five years with total budgetary support of ₹10,000 crore. Besides that, the central government has reduced GST on electric vehicles from 12 per cent to five per cent. It also reduced GST on charging infrastructure to promote the development of EV charging stations. Several state governments too have announced their respective EV policy to promote the sales of electric vehicles.

Not only creating demand growth, but the state governments have been also offering subsidies and incentives to the EV manufacturer and charging infrastructure developers to create a complete ecosystem for electric vehicles. These factors have been playing a key role in the growth of EV sales in India. Additionally, the sky-high price of petrol and diesel, availability of a wide range of electric vehicles are also fuelling demand for battery electric vehicles across India.