The Indian Department of Heavy Industries (DHI) has approved deploying 2,636 electric vehicles (EV) charging stations across 62 cities in 24 states and Union Territories under the second phase of the Fame India programme.
The government received around 106 proposals from public and private entities for approximately 7,000 charging stations. After an evaluation, it approved 2,636 charging stations in 24 states, of which 1,633 are fast-charging stations, and 1,003 are slow-charging stations. This brings the total number of expected charging stations in the country to 14,000. The selected entities will receive approval letters in phases, and each public entity will initiate the procurement process to deploy approved charging stations in a time-bound manner.
The deployment of these charging stations is expected to boost the confidence of EV users and encourage original equipment manufacturers to launch new EV models, according to the Minister of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises, Prakash Javadekar. He added that in future, at least one charging station would be available in most of the selected cities within a grid of 4 km x 4 km.
Under the Fame programme DHI invited proposals for deploying EV charging infrastructure in the country’s extensive and smart cities, categoriSed as million-plus cities, smart cities, satellite towns connected to Metro cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Ahmedabad. Initially, the proposal was to deploy 1,000 charging stations, but with the latest approval, the country’s total number of expected charging stations is now 14,000.
The ministry stated that approval letters to the selected entities would be issued in phases, and necessary agreements or memorandum of understanding (MoU) would be signed with partner organisations such as city municipal corporations, Discoms, and oil companies. This move is expected to significantly boost India’s EV sector and improve the charging infrastructure, thereby encouraging more people to buy EVs.
