Govt offers states chunky incentives for land, infra to prime EV charger rollout

The push is part of a ₹2,000 crore incentive plan that states can avail funding from under the broader ₹10,900 crore PM E-Drive scheme.

“Discussions with state governments have already begun,” said one of the persons requesting anonymity. “The aim is to usher states through the process of appointing nodal agencies, aggregating demand for chargers, and securing proper land for chargers,” the person said.

Upstream infrastructure such as transformers are necessary while setting up EV charging stations.

It is likely that states with high levels of EV adoption will be the first ones to submit their proposals and claim incentives. Chandigarh, Delhi, and Maharashtra are “frontrunners” in electric mobility adoption, per data from government thinktank NITI Aayog.

The plan involves state governments appointing nodal agencies to decide the location of chargers, the number of chargers, and the roadmap to operationalise them, with the Centre to bear 80% of the upstream costs of setting up chargers.

According to guidelines for the ₹2,000 crore plan notified on 26 September, state governments, central ministries, and central public sector enterprises (CPSEs) can submit proposals for incentives against EV charger installations.

India has a little over 29,200 EV public charging stations as on 1 August this year, according to a Lok Sabha disclosure dated 8 August.

A wider network of charging facilities remains a crucial bottleneck in increasing EV adoption, as buyers often deal with range anxiety—the fear that the battery of an EV will run out midway.

Compliance with the Union government’s localisation rules is also a crucial point of discussion, with focus on building a robust domestic manufacturing supply chain, the second person cited above said, also asking to stay anonymous.

“The government’s focus throughout this endeavour has been on localisation, on making sure that as many charger components as possible are made in India. The PMP for charging infrastructure has been notified, and it ensures that both hardware and software are indigenous,” said this person.

Under the PMP, or phased manufacturing programme, manufacturers are allowed to import a set of components that go into EV chargers only until a cutoff date. All other components have to be made domestically.

The PMP for chargers contains 12 components, including the charging panel, display screen, charging guns, software, as well as controllers which interact with the vehicle, among others.

Email queries to the heavy industries ministry on 23 October remained unanswered.

Policy leg-up

In August, NITI Aayog had pointed out in a report that India’s EV charging infrastructure was inadequate, and very few existing chargers were “energized”. Energizing a charger means making it operational.

The ministry of heavy industries in February told Parliament that of the approximately 4,500 EV chargers installed using government subsidies under the FAME-II scheme, only 251 were “energized” or operational as at the beginning of 2025. More current data was not immediately available.

The Aayog also recommended that nodal agencies for EV charging be set up in every state and feasibility studies be taken up for whether the shortlisted locations are viable for charger operation.

Government funding is needed to impart momentum to the EV charging infrastructure effort and make it scalable, an expert said. “Our investments in Battery Smart in the battery swapping sector have demonstrated that with this foundational regulatory push, market dynamics can sustain battery charging or battery swapping businesses for the long run,” said Nakul Zaveri, partner and co-head of climate investment strategy for LeapFrog Investments, a climate and sustainability investment fund.

EV charging needs to be quick and efficient, especially for commercial transport and fleet business models, “where vehicle utilization rates are high”, Zaveri added.

The cost of setting up a charger has upstream and downstream components. Upstream costs refer to the cost of connecting the charger location with the nearest power grid. This includes the cost of a transformer, cables, and other equipment.

The downstream costs refer to the actual charger, which costs around ₹8-10 lakh each, varying by the manufacturer.

In the guidelines notified on 26 September, the government said it would bear the full cost of all chargers installed on government premises such as educational institutions, hospitals, government offices, and similar premises, and that these chargers would be available for anyone to use.

Funds from the PM E-Drive scheme will cover 80% of upstream costs and 70% of downstream costs of chargers installed in cities and along highways which are controlled by state or central governments.

For those locations in cities and on highways which are not owned by the government, it would cover 80% of the upstream costs only.

The government had also identified priority highways for EV charger installations such as the Mumbai-Pune, Delhi-Jaipur, and Delhi-Agra corridors, among others, Mint had reported in April.