INSIGHT 2022- International Conference on Sustainable and Innovative Finance for Green and Healthy Transportation

Between 2020 and 2030, the estimated cumulative capital needed for India’s EV transition will be INR 19.7 lakh crore (USD 249 billion) — across vehicles, EV supply equipment, batteries and their replacements. The estimated size of the annual EV finance market will be INR 3.7 lakh crore (USD 46.82 billion) in 2030.1 To enable this, the Government of India has introduced many incentives, including notably the Faster Adoption and Manufacture of (Hybrid and) Electric Vehicles scheme with significant financial commitment. CESL has aggregated almost 100,000 e-3W, of which almost half will be financed by a specialized financing entity. Industrywide, financing for last mile connectivity continues to be a challenge. For e-buses, CESL recently closed a tender for 5450 buses under a Grand Challenge program, through a unified tender across 5 states. The record low prices discovered as a result of de-risked contracting and several other measures have triggered the consideration of a scaled-up program of 50,000 e-buses, which CESL has been mandated by the NITI Aayog to implement. Discovered prices, demand and the level of private participation suggests that e-buses are now viable. They also indicate that going forward, the business models will be on the lines of mobility-as-a-service, as against the outright purchase models currently used by the state transport corporations. As we shift from owning and operating buses to regulating bus services over a 12-year fixed fee contract, the big question at hand is finding ways to finance these contracts and reduce or manage the credit risk of STUs. A two-day international conference is being organized on September 15th and 16th, 2022, in New Delhi to discuss these aspects. The conference will be preceded by a workshop on carbon financing by the World Bank on September 14th. The conference is being organized by CESL in partnership with WRI India supported by Shakti Foundation. We are also privileged to receive the support and patronage of Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, Ministry of Heavy Industries, Ministry of Power, NITI Aayog amongst others, for this conference.