Indian EV market will reach INR 20 lakh, create 5 jobs by 2030: Nitin Gadkari

Union Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Indian electric vehicle market will create 5 crore jobs and the market is likely to touch Rs 20 lakh crore by 2030. He also blamed nearly half of the air pollution on the transport sector.

According to Gadkari, who was speaking at the 8th Catalyst Conference on Sustainability of E-Vehicle Industry – Evexpo 2024, “The Indian EV market has a potential of Rs 20,000 crore by 2030, creating five lakh jobs across the entire EV ecosystem.” The electric vehicle financing market is also expected to rise to Rs 4 lakh crore by 2030.

Gadkari said fossil fuels create a lot of problems in the country. “We are importing fossil fuels worth Rs 22 lakh crore and this is a big economic challenge. This import of fossil fuels is creating a lot of problems in our country,” Gadkari said.

The government is focusing on green energy as 44 percent of India’s energy basket is solar energy. He said that the highest priority is given to developing hydropower, then solar energy, and green energy, especially from biomass.

The minister highlighted the shortage of electric buses. He said that India needs 1,000 electric buses but the carrying capacity is 50,000 buses. He urged automobile companies to expand their factories without compromising quality, and said this was the right time to do so.

When he took over as transport minister in 2014, India’s automobile sector was Rs 7 lakh crore, today it is Rs 22 lakh. “Our number is third in the world. We have just overtaken Japan,” he said. India’s automobile sector is the third largest in the world, after the US (Rs 78,000 crore) and China (Rs 47,000 crore).

He said India needs to rise to the top position in the next five years. “The future of the industry is good. We have to compete with China in this sector. To achieve this, we need good technology and high quality.

The minister stated that manufacturing lithium-ion batteries is important, and companies such as Tata, Adani and Maruti are in the process of manufacturing batteries. India has 16,000 electric vehicle charging stations, and 2,800 are in the pipeline.