FAME-III may see vehicles sporting govt subsidy branding

Move aims to highlight Centre's electric mobility schemes and ensure greater transparency

- NITIN KUMAR

After fertilisers and Covid vaccine certificates, the Centre is now looking to promote itself through electric two and threewheelers under its flagship electric mobility schemes.

The Centre is learnt to be drafting a plan under which any electric vehicle (EV) sold under its subsidy scheme will have a ministry logo and a certificate informing the customer about the ministry and the scheme. The government might mandate self-KYC wherein the customer would need to upload their selfie and do Aadhaar authentication on a government portal to get the vehicle registered.

Senior officials told Business Standard that the initiative was aimed at informing the customer that "it's the government that is giving the subsidy, and not a company discount." They said the move follows concerns that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) were presenting government subsidies as company-offered discounts, leaving customers unaware of the government incentives. This initiative was recently discussed in a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister's Office. It was highlighted that customers purchasing electric two-wheelers (e2W), electric threewheelers (e3W), and e-cars were unaware of the government subsidies, as OEMs were marketing vehicles at a reduced price without clarifying that the price cut was due to government incentives.