Union Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) launched a probe into the incident of wrongful subsidy claims by several major electric vehicle manufacturers
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A high-level government panel formed by the Union Ministry of Heavy Industries (MHI) has held that auto companies intentionally violated the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric (& Hybrid) Vehicles in India (FAME-2) guidelines, despite the norms being very clear. The panel reportedly submitted its findings earlier in May 2024. An ET report claims that the report counters the findings of an earlier investigation by a Joint Secretary at the MHI, which said that some key terms in the FAME scheme were not clearly defined.
The panel was formed by the Additional Secretary to investigate the FAME 2 scheme scam. This comes several months after the MHI instructed 13 electric vehicle manufacturers t reimburse the improperly claimed subsidies under the FAME 2 scheme. Among these EV manufacturers, six leading brands including Hero Electric, Okinawa Autotech, Ampere Vehicles, Benling India, Revolt Intellicorp and Amo Mobility were found to be using imported products and seeking subsidy benefits, which were in violation of the phased manufacturing guidelines. As a result, these OEMs have been asked to repay around ₹469 crore.
The report has quoted a government official saying that the committee has been investigating the issue for some time. The official has reportedly stated that according to the first part of its report that has been submitted after scrutinizing all notifications and guidelines, the concerned testing agencies as well as officials of the auto section of MHI, effectively concluded that scheme notification and guidelines were clear and well understood by all relevant stakeholders, including test agencies, OEMs and MHI.
When it comes to the localisation requirement issue, the pane reportedly said that the timelines for localisation were framed in due consultation with all the stakeholders in the industry, including the industry players and testing agencies as well.
The MHI launched an investigation for the cases of subsidy violation under the FAME scheme in April 2023 to probe the procedural lapses and the role of government officials that resulted in the subsidy funds being wrongly disbursed to EV manufacturers.
First Published Date: 20 May 2024, 08:53 AM IST