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Indian PM Modi unveils grand e-car plan

New Delhi - Nation world's fastest-growing major economy building 100 smart cities and constructing roads

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday unveiled a mobility road map that seeks investments in manufacturing electric vehicles and increased use of public transport for travel, saying congestion-free mobility is critical to check economic and environmental costs of congestion.
The Indian economy, he said, is the world's fastest-growing major economy that is building 100 smart cities and constructing roads, airports, rail lines and ports at a greater pace.
Speaking at the Move Global Mobility Summit, he said clean mobility powered by clean energy is the most powerful weapon to fight climate change.
"We want to build India as a driver in electric vehicles. We will soon put in place a stable policy regime around electric and other alternative-fuel vehicles," Modi said. "This means a pollution-free clean drive, leading to clean air and better living standards for our people. We should champion the idea of 'clean kilometres'."
"My vision for the future of mobility in India is based on 7 Cs: common, connected, convenient, congestion-free, charged, clean, cutting-edge," he said.
The focus must be to go beyond cars to other vehicles such as scooters and rickshaws, Modi said.
"Common public transport must be the cornerstone of our mobility initiatives."
The prime minister called for leveraging the full potential for vehicle pooling to improve private vehicle utilisation.
"Congestion-free mobility is critical to check the economic and environmental costs of congestion," he said.
Mobility should be safe, affordable and accessible for all sections of the society, he said.
Stating that charged mobility is the way forward, the prime minister said the government wants to drive investments across the value chain from batteries to smart charging to electric vehicle manufacturing.
"We need to ensure that public transport is preferred to private modes of travel," he said.
"The Internet-enabled connected sharing economy is emerging as the fulcrum of mobility."
Mobility, he said, is a key driver of the economy. "Better mobility reduces the burden of travel and transportation, and can boost economic growth. It is already a major employer and can create the next generation of jobs."
Speaking on his government's achievements, he said the pace of construction of highways has doubled, rural road building programme has been reenergised, fuel efficient and cleaner fuel vehicles are being promoted and low-cost air connectivity in under-served regions is being developed.
Modi said that in a rapidly-transforming mobility paradigm, India had inherent strength and comparative advantages over other major economies.
"We have little of the legacy of resource-blind mobility. We have fewer vehicles per capita than other major economies. Thus, we do not carry much of the baggage of other economies that were built on the back of private car ownership. This gives us a window of opportunity to create an all new seamless mobility ecosystem," Modi said.
He added that not only did India have a strong information technology sector, but also its vast public digital infrastructure created by the unique identity programme Aadhaar. "With digitally-empowered 850 million Indian citizens, we can demonstrate how such digital infrastructure can be combined with new mobility business models.
"Our renewable energy boost will ensure that the environmental benefits of electric mobility can be fully realised. We plan to draw 175GW of energy from renewables by 2022. We are already the fifth largest producer of solar energy and sixth largest of renewable energy in the world," Modi added.
He said that India also had a fast-growing manufacturing base and a large digitally-literate young population. "Therefore, I am convinced that India is the best place globally to be an early mover in the mobility economy... we will do whatever it takes, because this is our commitment to our heritage and our promise to future generations," he added.
Calling mobility similar to the Internet in its early days, the prime minister said that the mobility revolution was an enabler of India's growth and development, which was capable of creating employment for those with doctorates and engineering degrees, to drivers and mechanics.
"We should embrace this revolution early and leverage ourselves to lead the mobility innovation ecosystem both for ourselves and others," he said.