if the proposal is accepted it will help the segment get credit at lower interest rates the reserve bank of india is considering a proposal from the niti aayog to categorise loans to purchase electric vehicles under the priority sector lending psl segmentif the proposal is accepted it will help the segment get credit at lower interest rates currently these loans are given under the auto retail category but lenders are wary about financing purchase of electric vehicles evs as they are unsure about the risks in a segment which is still in a nascent stageniti aayog chief executive amitabh kant confirmed that the governments policy think tank has given the proposal advt extensive deliberations aheadit considered the potential of evs in reducing emission of greenhouse gases and helping india in its fight against climate change said the niti aayog ceothe inclusion of evs under psl would not only reduce cost of finance but also provide finance to more people thus increasing penetration of evs in india kant told et our view is that there is a case for this in the context of the impending climate change crisis and indias recent commitments at cop26 in glasgowat the glasgow climate change conference last month india has set itself a target of lowering the total projected carbon emissions by 1 billion tonnes till 2030 reducing the carbon intensity of the economy by less than 45 and cutting emissions to net zero by 2070 the process for inclusion of evs under psl requires extensive deliberations and consultations to have a targeted outcome of increased access and reduced cost of finance to this sector kant saidmanufacturers of electric two and threewheelers have also made representations to the banking regulator for psl status people in the know saidrbi did not respond to ets email seeking commentpushing electricunder the psl framework 40 of lenders total credit must be compulsorily loaned to specific sectors these sectors include agriculture small businesses export credit education housing social infrastructure and renewable energy psl is used by the banking regulator to direct financing to creditstarved sectors advt even as sales of electric vehicles are witnessing a surge with the first half of 2021 already surpassing the 2020 numbers ev financing continues to be the weak link to this growth story said sulajja firodia motwani chief executive of electric two and threewheeler maker kinetic green energy power solutions currently very few banks and financiers are financing evs and that too at very high interest ratesin the first half of the current fiscal ev sales more than tripled to 118000 units even as a shortage of semiconductors forced automakers to cut down on production of vehicles running on fossil fuels hurting their salesmarket dynamics will ensure there will be no ice 2w 3w in india by 2025 says amitabh kantthe indian manufacturers have impeccable ability to leapfrog kant told a conference of representatives of the state and central governments and industries in goa that the falling battery price will help achieve