Delhi mulls sops for hybrid cars to fight pollution

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Delhi government is getting serious about pollution-free drive in a big way. Close on the heels of subsidisng the country’s only electric car REVA, the state government is open to giving incentives to hybrid cars that would be manufactured in India. “If car manufacturers, who are planning to come up with hybrid vehicles, approach the government for sops, we will definitely consider giving them incentives,” says Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit on the sidelines of launching the electric car REVAi.

The state government, on Wednesday, announced a 15% subsidy on the base price of REVAi, a 12.5% exemption of VAT and 2% refund of road tax and registration charges to the car buyers in Delhi . Consequently, REVAi, which is launched in three variants, will cost between Rs 2.99 lakh and Rs 3.78 lakh on road. When asked if the government would consider a similar kind of tax rebates to other hybrid vehicles, Dixit said, “... we will be happy to encourage such vehicles, but manufacturers have not approached us as yet.”

Recently, Honda Siel launched the hybrid version of its luxury sedan Civic in the country, priced at Rs 21.5 lakh, which is almost double than its petrol version.

This is mainly because the vehicle is sold in India as a completely build unit which attracts a duty of over 110%.

Even domestic carmakers, like Mahindra & Mahindra and Toyota are working on fuel efficient and less polluting hybrid cars and such a move from the state government will encourage car manufacturers to come up with greener cars.

No wonder, the Reva Electric Car Company is betting big on the Indian market. The Bangalore-based company plans to increase its capacity five fold this year and launch one new model as well as one variant each year to woo customers.

“We will ramp up the capacity from 6,000 units now to 30,000 units by the end of this year to meet the growing demand of electric vehicles in India and abroad.