• The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry has recommended that the Centre should extend the deadline of the Faster Adoption & Manufacturing of Electric Vehicles (FAME) – II Scheme by at least three more years.

ABOUT FAME II SCHEME

• The main objective of the scheme is to offer upfront incentives for the purchase of electric and hybrid vehicles, and add more charging stations.
• Implementing Agency- Department of Heavy Industry, Ministry of Heavy Industry and Public Enterprises.
• The deadline for the ongoing FAME II scheme is March 31, 2024, with a budget outlay of Rs 10,000 crore.
• This phase aims to generate demand by way of supporting 7000 e-Buses, 5 lakh e-3 Wheelers, 55000 e-4 Wheeler Passenger Cars (including Strong Hybrid) and 10 lakh e-2 Wheelers.
• Scheme will be applicable mainly to vehicles used for public transport or those registered for commercial purposes in e-3W, e-4W and e-bus segments.
  • However, privately owned registered e-2Ws are also  covered under the scheme as a mass segment.

ABOUT FAME I

• Phase-I of the FAME India Scheme was approved in March 2015.
• After multiple extensions, the deadline was extended till March 31, 2019, with an outlay of Rs 895 crore.
• The scheme had four focus areas — technology development, demand creation, pilot project, and charging infrastructure.