Union minister Nitin Gadkari said that the Indian electric vehicle market would create 5 crore jobs and the market is likely to touch Rs 20 lakh crore by 2030. He also blamed nearly half of the air pollution on the transport sector.
According to Gadkari, who was speaking at the ‘8th Catalyst Conference on Sustainability of E-Vehicle Industry – Evexpo 2024’, “The Indian electric vehicles market potential is of Rs 20 lakh crore by 2030, creating five crore jobs across the entire EV ecosystem.” The EV finance market is also expected to enhance to Rs 4 lakh crore by 2030.
Gadkari said that fossil fuels are creating a lot of problems in the country. “We import fossil fuels worth Rs 22 lakh crore, that is a big economic challenge. And this import of fossil fuels is creating a lot of problems in our country,” Gadkari said.
The government is concentrating on green energy as 44 per cent of India’s power basket is solar power. He said that the highest priority is being given to the development of hydro power, then solar power, and green power particularly from biomass.
The minister highlighted the shortage of electric buses. He said India needs 1 lakh electric buses but the capacity is 50,000 buses. He urged auto companies to expand their factories without compromising on quality and said this is an opportune time to do so.
When he took charge as transport minister in 2014, the size of India’s automobile sector was Rs 7 lakh crore, and today it is Rs 22 lakh crore. “Our number is third in the world. We just surpassed Japan,” he said. India’s automobile sector is the third-largest in the world, after the USA (Rs 78 lakh crore) and China (Rs 47 lakh crore).
He said that India needs to rise to the top spot in the coming five years. “The future of the industry is good. We have to compete against China in this sector. For that, we need good technology and quality,” he said.
The minister stated that manufacturing lithium-ion batteries is important, and companies such as Tata, Adani and Maruti are in the process of manufacturing batteries. India has 16,000 EV charging stations, and 2,800 are in the pipeline.
