In the boom of the electric vehicle industry, many companies are misusing government relaxations and subsidies. EV makers are tricking the government by using wrongful techniques to maximize their profits and eating up from money that the government provided to make EVs affordable for the common people.
So to bring such companies into control government has now started “Swachta Abhiyan” in the EV market too. The Ministry Of Heavy Industry has blocked many such companies from availing of FAME 2 subsidy benefits and de-listed them from almost all the relaxations provided by the government to increase EV adoption in India.
Here let’s take a look at the companies that Government blocked from Availing FAME benefits:
Companies blocked by government from FAME 2 subsidy:
Hero Electric:
Hero Electric is one of the most sold and popular electric 2W brands in India. This brand would always remain in one of the top 3 positions on the most-sold electric scooters list. But now all the scooters from this brand are banned from getting FAME 2 subsidies anymore.
Okinawa Autotech:
Okinawa is the most selling electric 2-wheeler brand in India. It has scooters from all the market segments, from high-speed to Mid-range to low-speed an electric scooter from each segment would be sold by Okinawa. But now this company is also banned by Government from accessing the FAME 2 benefits and all the scooters from this brand are on the brink of collapse.
The company recently revealed that it made over 800 crores in revenue in FY 21.
Tunwal:
Tunwal is also one of the well-known brands in India and it’s mostly famous for having India’s very first cruise electric motorcycle. But it has got no benefits from the government for selling its electric 2-W.
Victory:
It’s one of the many electric scooter brands in India which is now banned by the government from gaining FAME 2 subsidies anymore.
Why did the government ban these companies?
Stopping minor companies (with very few sales) doesn’t matter and would’ve gone unnoticed by anyone. But limiting some major companies like Okinawa Autotech, and Hero electric is a really bold move, and here’re some reasons why these companies are banned:1. Rising price against FAME subsidies:
Some companies used this trick through which companies would raise their vehicle’s ex-showroom price after subsidies.
One of Okinawa’s scooters Okhi 90 is now priced at the most expensive electric scooter in India and its price is 1.8 lakh ex-showroom.
2. Selling Chinese EVs by rebranding them an Indian.
Most of Okinawa’s scooters or hero electric’s “Atria” can be seen available for sale in bulk on some random Chinese EV-selling websites. So it’s highly visible that the company is just importing the products and selling them by doing some minor changes and rebranding the scooter as Indian.
3. Registering high-speed scooters as low-speed scooters:
In many cases, It’s found that Okinawa is selling high-speed scooters by naming them low-speed scooters just to fool the customers and the government and save taxes for both themselves and the customers who are buying the scooter.
In this early stage of the electric vehicle industry, many companies are misusing the policies and following wrong practices to maximize their profits, and the most surprising thing is, even government is aware of such things but in such a nascent stage of the EV industry government to seems to not take any strict action against such companies. But Okinawa is one such company that has used all possible wrong practices to maximize its traffic and the Government needs to take strict action against it.
When will Government revoke this subsidy ban from Okinawa, Hero Electric:
At this point in time Government has the only demand to submit proper localization documents for scooter manufacturing. Because one of the most concerning issues is, importing scooters from China. It damages one of the worst ways of dampening the Indian economy and is stopping other electric vehicle makers to grow in the country.
According to the regulation, the EV must be at least 50% manufactured in India to avail of the FAME 2 benefits, and the subsidy covers at least 30-40% of the EV’s actual cost.
Companies that must be happy with this decision:
Many competitors like Ola electric, Ather 450X, Revolt RV400, Ampere electric, etc. have automatically lost 2 of the most prominent EV makers in the Indian market. Both Okinawa and Hero electric had almost 50% of the EV market capitalization in India now as the company has lost it, the customers will undoubtedly shift to other EV makers which will prove to be a slid gian for other companies.
Conclusion:
Both Okinawa and Hero electric are in great trouble, Hero electric even released a statement saying, “We’ll be in economic breakdown if the subsidy ban isn’t revoked soon”. But it’s a matter of a month and the full report of EV sales for December month will be out and we can check how far the Okinawa and Hero electric fall.
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