New Delhi: The Central government is set to give subsidies to 4 states who will adopt electric buses in their public transport system. The states set to receive subsidies under the PM e-drive scheme are, Delhi, Gujarat, Karnataka and Telangana. Together these states are set to press into service 10,900 electric buses. The Ministry of Heavy Industries said that the cities which will receive subsidies and where the electric buses will run include Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Delhi, Hyderabad and Surat.
Aim to make public transport cleaner and smarter: Minister
The Minister of Heavy Industries, HD Kumaraswamy after a meeting with the ministry officials regarding the rollout of the programme, said, “From Bengaluru to Delhi, cities are actively embracing electric buses to make public transport cleaner, smarter, and more efficient.”
According to a report in Mint, the government allocated 4,500 electric buses to Bengaluru, 2,000 to Hyderabad, 2,800 to Delhi, 1,000 to Ahmedabad, and 600 to Surat, under the Prime Minister E-drive scheme.
Kumaraswamy said that the government was not just allocating electric buses, but was shaping the future of India’s transport system, keeping in mind innovation and environmental consciousness. He said that with close coordination with the states, namely Telangana, Karnataka, Delhi, and Gujarat, the government was determined to deliver on the PM E-Drive promise.
Under the PM E-drive scheme the government aims to provide subsidies for 14,028 electric buses with the total allocation amount being Rs 4,391 crore. This is nearly 40 per cent of the total scheme outlay. The allocation needs to be spent until Financial Year 2026 and aims to provide green intra-city mobility in as many as 9 cities across India. The cities where these E-buses will ply include, New Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Chennai, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Surat and Pune.
There is an overwhelming demand for E-buses in the metro cities. The approximate cost of 1 electric bus is Rs 1 crore, of which the government subsidizes Rs 20 to Rs 35 lakh, under the PM E-drive scheme. The subsidy is provided to the states by the Ministry of Heavy Industry. So for a bus which is longer than 6 metre and upto 8 metres, the subsidy amount is Rs 20 lakh. The ones which are 8 metre and upto 10 metre, get a subsidy of Rs 25 lakh and those above 10 metre and upto 12 metre will get a maximum subsidy of Rs 35 lakh.
