The country’s largest automotive market shareholder, Maruti Suzuki, is likely to introduce electric cars in the near future. The Indian government had recently announced a policy which indicates its intention to make India an electric car only market by 2030. Moreover, a growing environment pollution concern and pressure from the National Green Tribunal (NGT) has encouraged the government to promote positive developments. Although GST and cess on hybrid cars have been increased to 43 per cent, the GST rates for electric cars has been reduced from 20.5 per cent to 12 per cent.
Back in April this year, the Indian car manufacturer Maruti Suzuki had also revealed its plans to set-up a Lithium Ion battery manufacturing facility at a cost of Rs 1,200 crores in India. OEM suppliers Denso and electronic giant Toshiba will be assisting Maruti Suzuki in making components for its electric car project. Speaking about the plans at the company’s 36 annual general meeting, RC Bhargava, Chairman, Maruti Suzuki, said, “The government has announced a programme to rapidly promote the use of EVs. It is a very laudable policy, as it will greatly enhance the usage and, over time, lead to a cleaner environment.”
Although details regarding the technical developments will only be known over the next few months, we believe that it will be a budget offering from the Indian car manufacturer, likely to be in the range of Rs 5 lakhs to 10 lakhs. Moreover, the brand has the widest and largest service network in the country thereby making it easy for them to set up charging facilities. Also, localisation and mass scale production benefit has also been a key reason behind Maruti Suzuki’s success in the country.
