Electric vehicle buyers exempt from registration certificate fees, renewal charges as part of India’s e-mobility push

As part of its plan to promote electric vehicles, India has now taken yet another measure to encourage citizens to go the electric way – buyers of electric vehicles will no longer have to pay fees for the issuance or renewal of the registration certificate of their vehicle. In a new notification, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has announced all battery-operated vehicles are hereon exempt from ‘the payment of fees for the purpose of issue or renewal of registration certificate’. Additionally, there will be no charges levied for the assignment of a new registration mark for an electric vehicle. This, MoRTH says, is a step to encourage e- mobility in the country. [caption id=“attachment_9660481” align=“alignnone” width=“1920”]  Several states already exempt buyers of electric vehicles from paying registration charges as part of their EV policies. Image: Ford[/caption] On paper, the potential savings are relatively small – registration certificate issuance/renewal charges presently range from Rs 1,000 – 1,500 for passenger vehicles, and are pegged at Rs 300 for two-wheelers. These rise to Rs 5,000 for an imported passenger vehicle and Rs 2,500 for an imported two-wheeler. However, this is another step in the country’s plans to promote adoption of electric vehicles. Recently, the Centre revised the FAME-II scheme to increase subsidy for electric two-wheelers by a substantial margin, and several states – including Gujarat and Maharashtra – have rolled out elaborate EV policies to entice motorists into opting for an electric vehicle.