New Delhi, May 2 । After investigation at International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) Manesar, Haryana found no
serious violations in Phased Manufacturing Program (PMP), Ministry of Heavy Industry (MHI) may soon resume the disbursement of the subsidy under it’s FAME II scheme.
Stating this here today, a Spokesman of ICAT Manesar said that Ministry of Heavy Industry (MHI) launched the FAME II (Faster Adoption of Manufacturing of Electric and hybrid vehicles) scheme to promote indigenously produced Electric vehicles in India. The objective also included compliance towards Phased Manufacturing Plan (PMP). Many Indian
manufacturers took benefit of this scheme and India saw an uptrend in the locally produced
EV segment. However there were certain complaints received by MHI on the violation of FAME II spirit / scheme with PMP being compromised. This raised certain doubts on the extent of Indian manufactured components used to produce such electric vehicles.
He said that MHI had taken these complaints very seriously and deputed their expert test agency ICAT, Manesar, to investigate these complaints on such manufacturers. It is worth stating here that the International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) was established in 2006 at Manesar, Haryana.
In this case, the investigation process involved randomly selecting the already sold / in-use vehicles from various parts of the country (who had already claimed subsidy) for each financial year; stripping them down; analysis of the sourcing of their components / sub-parts used in their production (typically the TIER 1 suppliers, but not limited to even Tier 2 suppliers); factory visits / audits and verification of invoices (to establish local production). The status of Phased Manufacturing Program (PMP) as per the requirement of FAME-II scheme was clearly established and ascertained.
Further documents related to procurement of parts have been collected during the audit. Physical parts of the stripped down vehicle have been tallied against the submitted documents, declarations, invoices, etc. Based on the investigations done so far by ICAT, no serious Phased Manufacturing Program (PMP) violations have been observed.
Intense enquiries and investigations have been successfully completed for Okaya, TVS,
Jitendra New EV, Avon Cycle, Victory and Thukral and the results of these investigations are clearly demonstrating the proper adoption of FAME II in letter and spirit. It would have though taken some additional time but this process has given tremendous confidence in the spirit of FAME II being followed by the entire ecosystem. Going forward, it would also enhance faster adoption of Electric Vehicle in India in a very robust manner. MHI may soon be deciding to resume the disbursement of the subsidy, he added.