Financing Electric Mobility Transition in India

Electric mobility in India is poised for strong growth, despite the near-term challenges, as per industry and financial sector experts. In a webinar titled “Accessing Debt Finance for the Electric Mobility Sector in India” organized today by NRDC and partners ASCI, GERMI, TCCL, and Climate Trends, experts and key stakeholders discussed solutions to accelerate India’s transition to electric mobility.

Highlights from the discussion

As Ms. Poonam Sandhu, NRDC’s finance lead in India explained, “The objective of this webinar is to bring multi-stakeholder perspectives to the table, identify key challenges and to explore potential solutions, such as customized financial products for the electric mobility sector. This webinar is part of our efforts to accelerate the deployment of electric mobility in India.”

In India, two and three wheelers, along with public transportation are considered the big growth segments in electric mobility in the near-term. Mr. Venugopal Rao Nellutla, President of the Trinity Group expects the electric vehicles market to grow at an average annual growth rate of 43% until 2030 driven mainly by electrification of two-wheelers, three-wheelers and commercial vehicles. Mr. Deepak Goel, Chief Financial Officer, Hero Electric Vehicles summarized the industry perspective well, "We are at an inflection point in the EV story of India. Two and three wheelers are at the threshold of very high growth.”

Mr. Harshal Mhavarkar, Vice President, State Bank of India highlighted the challenges lenders face in electric mobility financing such as unproven business models, operational performance, and uncertainty of cash flows. Mr. Mhavarkar and other financial sector experts noted the need for specialized green finance institutions, such as the proposed IREDA Green Window, that can design risk mitigation instruments as merely concessional capital is not enough to attract private investment.

Indeed, Green Banks across the world such as the New York Green Bank are paving the way for attracting private capital to this emerging market segment. Mr. Andrew Kessler, Managing Director New York Green Bank shared innovative financial structures that his institution is piloting in New York. Mr. Kessler summarized it well, “With New York State’s strong policy goals and incentives catalyzing EV adoption, NY Green Bank sees significant potential in the electric vehicle sector, especially in charging infrastructure and medium-to-heavy duty vehicles.”

This webinar is a part of our series on Green Finance in India as we delve deeper into clean energy and clean transportation pathways for India’s recovery from the COVID-19 downturn. For more action from today’s webinar, and for participating in upcoming discussions, we invite stakeholders to reach out to us and follow us here.