<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gujarat has come under sharp criticism after being placed 16th in the India Electric Mobility Index (IEMI) 2024, a performance tracker released by NITI Aayog in August to assess states and Union Territories on electric vehicle readiness and adoption.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The ranking, which puts Gujarat in the lowest &ldquo;Aspirant&rdquo; category, highlights significant gaps in policy, infrastructure and implementation compared with national frontrunners such as Delhi, Maharashtra and Chandigarh.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Gujarat Pradesh Congress Committee seized on the report to accuse the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party of neglecting public transport alternatives and failing to provide citizens with the benefits of electric mobility.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Party spokesperson Dr Hiren Banker alleged that government inaction, coupled with &ldquo;corrupt practices,&rdquo; had undermined the growth of the sector. &ldquo;The BJP government has failed in the implementation of policies for electric vehicles, which are considered an ideal transport option for citizens. Due to corrupt practices, people have been deprived of benefits,&rdquo; he said.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Banker also charged that in the past decade, the BJP-led central government had &ldquo;continuously increased petrol prices and levied heavy taxes, extracting Rs 30 lakh crore from the people of the country.&rdquo;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><em><strong>Gujarat&rsquo;s Ranking and Weak Scores</strong></em></span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The index assessed states across 16 indicators under three themes, where Gujarat&rsquo;s performance remained poor. In the promotion of EV purchases and operations, it managed just 37 points, ranking 17th. For charging infrastructure development, it scored 44, slipping to 18th place.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In private EV adoption, Gujarat placed 15th with 51 points, while in commercial EV adoption, it fell drastically to 27th with only 5 points. Its score of 24 for charging points put it at 22nd nationally. Only in research and development did it fare slightly better, with 46 points and a 12th-place ranking.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The Congress highlighted the limited adoption of electric mobility in the state, noting that Gujarat has just 942 electric buses in operation. Between 2015 and 2021, only 7,923 students received subsidies for electric two-wheelers, while over 1.75 crore such vehicles were registered across India in a single year.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">For three-wheeler rickshaws, the state extended subsidies to just 87 vehicles between 2018 and 2021, compared with over 11.6 lakh registered nationally.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The report underscored that Gujarat lags not only frontrunners but also &ldquo;performer&rdquo; states such as Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Haryana. Weaknesses were visible in both private and commercial adoption, with the share of electric two-wheelers and four-wheelers among total private vehicles remaining well below the national average, alongside low uptake of taxis, buses, goods carriers and rickshaws.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><em><strong>Failures in Infrastructure, Policy and Research</strong></em></span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Charging infrastructure emerged as a major stumbling block. Gujarat has not introduced a single-window clearance mechanism, fixed timelines for setting up charging stations, or concessional land allotments for public facilities.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Nor has it revised building codes to mandate charging points in new projects or retrofitting provisions for existing structures. This lack of systemic planning has left residents and businesses with limited access.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Governance was another weak spot. Unlike leading states, Gujarat has not constituted a high-level interdepartmental committee to ensure coordination between transport, energy, industries and urban development departments. The absence of such a body, the report warned, has led to fragmented execution and policy delays.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The state&rsquo;s EV policy also lacks critical incentives that have driven faster adoption elsewhere. No scrappage benefits for old vehicles, retrofitting support, fee-exempt parking, low-emission zones or permit relaxations for commercial EVs have been introduced. These omissions, according to the report, place Gujarat behind regions where aggressive policy incentives have boosted uptake.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Research and innovation, too, were found wanting. Gujarat has only 10.33 EV startups per ₹ trillion GSDP, fewer than hubs like Delhi, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Only a single e-mobility R&amp;D initiative has been launched, and the state records just 0.19 EV-related patents per ₹ trillion GSDP.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">With such low levels of innovation and intellectual property creation, Gujarat&rsquo;s ecosystem remains underdeveloped.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dr Banker demanded that the government rectify irregularities in subsidy distribution and adopt &ldquo;realistic policies with adequate infrastructure, including research support and EV charging facilities&rdquo; to close the gap.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Nationally, Delhi, Maharashtra and Chandigarh were rated as frontrunners with scores between 65 and 99, while Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Haryana were categorised as performers with scores from 50 to 64.&nbsp;</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Gujarat, scoring below 50, joined the aspirant group alongside Odisha, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal, Kerala and others.</span></div>
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<div><span style="font-family: georgia, palatino, serif; font-size: 12pt;">As of December 2024, India had more than 25,000 public charging stations and over 12 lakh registered electric vehicles, accounting for 5.3 per cent of private vehicle adoption. While 29 states and Union Territories had notified EV policies, the IEMI stressed that Gujarat&rsquo;s weak performance underscored the urgent need for states to accelerate coordinated action if India is to meet its target of achieving net zero emissions by 2070.</span></div>

Congress slams BJP govt as Gujarat ranks low in EV adoption, policy and infrastructure gap

Gujarat Slips to 16th in Electric Mobility Index

Congress slams BJP govt as Gujarat ranks low in EV adoption, policy and infrastructure gap

September 13, 2025 | 22:22 IST