India plans global EV summit as it rewrites electric mobility strategy
The event will be positioned as a sequel to the 2018 MOVE Summit that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
India is reworking its electric mobility strategy after recent supply chain shocks, including the rare-earth magnet crunch and muted traction for earlier efforts to attract major global electric vehicle (EV) makers.
As part of the new approach, government think tank NITI Aayog plans to host a Global EV Summit in March-April, an event that may see participation from leading global EV firms and top government functionaries, according to two people aware of the development and a concept note reviewed by Mint.
Preparatory consultations have begun with the ministry of heavy industries and domestic and international experts and think tanks, the people said.
The event will be positioned as a sequel to the 2018 MOVE Summit that was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as per the concept note for the event.
Earlier, in August, the Niti Aayog had shifted its stance towards creating mandates along with incentives to boost India’s electric vehicle adoption.
The upcoming summit will focus on creating domestic policy mandates to drive EV adoption, especially for e-trucks and e-buses, supply chain management in the light of the rare-earth magnet crisis, upcoming technologies in the domain and the EV charging ecosystems, said one of the people cited above, requesting anonymity.
Electric trucks and buses are crucial vehicle segments that the government plans to incentivize under the marquee PM E-Drive scheme till FY28. Other vehicle segments such as two- and three-wheelers have also got incentives under this scheme, but these will lapse in March 2026.
A key objective of the summit will be to secure investments from domestic and global institutions into the country’s EV sector, the note said. This, according to experts, can create scale of manufacturing within the country. Yet another aim is to create a platform for Indian businesses to participate more in global value chains in the EV sector, the concept note added.
India had in March 2024 rolled out its Scheme to Promote Manufacturing of Electric Passenger Cars in India (SPMEPCI), popularly referred to as the ‘Tesla scheme’. It had offered import duty cuts to foreign electric car makers on limited completely built-up units, provided the manufacturer sets up a manufacturing plant in India with a minimum investment of $500 million, and made these vehicles with a significant amount of localization. The scheme had failed to attract the EV major to invest in manufacturing in the country.
Emailed queries to Niti Aayog on 27 November and the ministry of heavy industries on 28 November seeking comments on the summit remained unanswered till press time. There was also no response to queries emailed to US-based Tesla.
VinFast CEO Pham Sanh Chau, in response to Mint's query about the company's India investment plans, said, “India is one of VinFast’s key strategic markets, and we expect it to make an important contribution to our global business results." Within two months of starting sales, the Vietnamese automaker is already among the top bestselling EV brands in the market, he added.
"VinFast is open to launching its full product lineup. We expect to introduce three new models in 2026, one of which will be the 7-seat Limo Green model. We are also considering introducing electric buses and two-wheelers in India next year. We are evaluating all segments and will announce our business plans at the right time," he said.
The company plans to expand its Indian network to 35 dealerships in 27 cities by 2025, and further to 100 dealerships in 60 cities, the chief executive said.
Supply chain pressures shape policy
The EV summit plan comes in the wake of the global rare-earth magnet shortage, which was triggered by China’s export control order in April. China, which holds about 90% of the world’s rare-earth processing capacity, sent manufacturers across the globe into panic, as the magnets are used in strategic sectors such as defence, electronics, renewable energy and automobiles, including electric vehicles.
In the midst of this supply crunch, India had to amend its local manufacturing incentive rules to allow e-truck and e-bus makers to import rare earth magnet-laden motors and still get government sops under the ₹10,900-crore PM E-Drive scheme, indicating the sector’s reliance on Chinese imports.
On 26 November, the Union Cabinet cleared a ₹7,280-crore incentive package for setting up of five rare-earth magnet manufacturing units across the country. This scheme has a two-year gestation period to set up the plants, and the incentives will be doled out for five years after that.
Market outlook
India’s EV adoption has also been modest. In its August report, the Niti Aayog noted that the country's EV penetration has been low as against the progress made by China and Europe. While India’s electric three-wheeler adoption is high—with more than half of them being electric—two-wheelers, four-wheelers, buses and trucks have lagged.
While the global EV penetration rate was about 16.48% as of 2024, India's was just 7.66%, said the report titled ‘Unlocking a $200 billion opportunity: Electric Vehicles in India’.
India’s public policy now has incentives for all segments of electric vehicles, with even e-tractors incentivized by some states. Two major production-linked incentive schemes, PLI-Auto with an outlay of ₹25,938 crore, and PLI-ACC (advanced chemistry cells) with an outlay of ₹18,100 crore form a robust policy signal from the government towards making EVs and their batteries locally.
Simultaneously, a decade of Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric and Hybrid vehicles (FAME scheme), followed by the PM E-Drive scheme offer consumers discounts on EV purchases.
India’s EV sector was valued at about $54 billion in 2025 and is set to double to about $110 billion by 2029, market intelligence firm Mordor Intelligence said.
So far this calendar year, over 2 million EVs have hit Indian roads, data from the central government’s Vahan registry showed. This comprised about 7.92% of all new vehicle registrations in the country in this period.
India's EV sector has shown "promising growth with multiple segments having an increasing penetration," said Ashim Sharma, senior partner and business unit head of Nomura Research Institute Solutions and Consulting. Major challenges for the sector include expanding the charging infrastructure and ensuring resilience of supply chains for materials such as rare earth and batteries, he added.
topics
