FAME-III Rollout In A Couple Of Months Time, Says Minister HD Kumaraswamy

The rollout of the FAME-III EV subsidy scheme is likely to take a couple of more months, according to a union minister, prolonging the wait of the industry demand.

"I think in one or two months it will be clear," Heavy Industries Minister HD Kumaraswamy told media persons on the sidelines of an event in New Delhi. "Several challenges are there, not only one or two. And there are learnings from the experiences we have had from FAME-I and FAME-II."

Several suggestions are still coming in, the minister said. "We have to adopt all of them. We are working on it..."

The third phase of the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles, or FAME-III, has been an industry demand even before the second phase of the EV subsidy scheme expired on March 31, 2024. Over 1.3 million EVs benefitted from the five-year scheme, which had a budgetary outlay of Rs 11,500 crore.

To be sure, the government did introduce a temporary EV subsidy scheme—the Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme 2024 with an outlay of Rs 500 crore—but that too is set to expire Sept. 31, 2024.

The clamour for FAME-III has only grown louder in the meantime.

On Monday, NDTV Profit reported that the process of formulating the FAME-III framework was in its final stages and that it may get introduced by mid-September. In July, the heavy industries minister made a statement to the same effect, reiterating that the scheme will be rolled out in a month or two. The outlay, however, is yet unknown.