Bihar govt to provide up to Rs 1.25 lakh, 75% tax relief to promote EVs

The Bihar government will provide up to Rs 1.25 lakh for the purchase of the first 1,000 electric four-wheelers for personal use. In addition, the government is also providing a relief of up to 75 percent on the payment of motor vehicle tax. To this end, the Bihar government on Tuesday, December 5, approved the Bihar Electric Vehicle (EV) Policy-2023 to achieve 15 percent EVs in all vehicle registrations in the state by 2028, a PTI the report said, citing a senior government official. The decision was taken during the state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Additional Chief Secretary of the Bihar government, S. Siddharth, spoke to the press and said, “The main objective of the scheme is to encourage faster adoption of electric and hybrid vehicles by the people by offering incentives for the purchase of electric vehicles. and also by setting up a necessary charging infrastructure. The scheme will help address the problem of environmental pollution and fuel security.”

“There are similar benefits for the first 10,000 personal two-wheeler EVs, with subsidies on vehicle tax of up to 75 percent and purchase incentives of up to Rs 10,000,” he said.

The policy aims to improve the quality of the environment by reducing air pollution while promoting startups and investments in the electric mobility sector and its supporting industries, Siddharth said in the PTI report.

Further, the policy also talks about the provisions for incentives for scrapping of electric vehicles and their components, Siddharth said.

The state cabinet also approved a proposal by the transport department to procure 400 electric buses under the “PM-e Bus Sewa” scheme for six districts in Bihar.

“These buses, which will operate in Patna, Muzaffarpur, Gaya, Bhagalpur, Darbhanga and Purnea, aim to reduce dependence on conventional public transport on petrol and diesel,” he said.

(With input from the agency)