Small Industries Development Bank of India (SIDBI) has announced Mission 50K-EV4ECO thereby prioritising electic vehicle (EV) ecosystem development.
This is pilot phase to strengthen the EV ecosystem including uptake for 2-wheeler, 3- wheeler and 4-wheeler. Mission 50K-EV4ECO intends to unlock the market by providing better financing terms. The pilot scheme has two components- direct lending and indirect lending. Under direct lending, SIDBI will directly give loans to eligible micro, small, and medium enterprises, including aggregators, fleet operators, and EV leasing companies for the purchase of EVs and develop charging infrastructure including battery swapping. The indirect scheme targeted at non-banking financial companies (NBFCs), including small unrated/ focused /emerging NBFCs actively engaged in EV financing, shall reach out to last mile by inducing access to funds as also reducing landed cost. This scheme is the precursor to EVOLVE scheme by SIDBI-World Bank.