INDIA ELECTRIC MOBILITY INDEX 2025: NITI AAYOG STATE RANKINGS, GRID CHALLENGES & POLICY ANALYSIS

Why In News?

NITI Aayog, in collaboration with WRI India, published the second edition of the India Electric Mobility Index (IEMI) 2025. 

What is the India Electric Mobility Index?

The IEMI measures and compares the progress of e-mobility transitions across Indian jurisdictions using open and government datasets (such as the Vahan Dashboard and Startup India portal).

Objective: Evaluate state-level clean transport progress, identify core success factors, promote data-backed policymaking, steer private capital investments, and bridge regional implementation gaps.

Assessment Period: The 2025 ranking is based on performance data recorded from January to December 2025, incorporating quarterly evaluations updated annually.

Role in Cooperative Federalism: It provides an inter-governmental platform for peer learning, knowledge sharing, and replicating successful state-level policy models across regional boundaries.

Role in Competitive Federalism: It categorizes jurisdictions into performance tiers (Top Performers, Frontrunners, Emerging Performers, and Aspirants), creating healthy sub-national competition to motivate proactive state-level policy interventions.

Weightage Structure: The IEMI framework measures progress across three weighted pillars comprising 16 indicators:

What are the Major Findings of IEMI 2025?

Overall Score Range: Composite scores across all 36 States and UTs ranged from 10 to 84 out of 100.

Median Score: National median performance score reached 40 out of 100.

Improvement over 2024: National median score increased from 36 in 2024 to 40 in 2025, while the top score rose from 77 to 84.

Top-Performing Jurisdictions: Delhi secured the top position nationwide with a score of 84, followed by Maharashtra (78), Karnataka (73), Chandigarh (71), and Goa (65).

Metropolitan vs Remote-Region Differences: Major industrial hubs and urban agglomerations excel in startup density and fast-charging networks, whereas hilly and northeastern regions face geographical and supply chain constraints. 

• Among hilly and northeastern states, Manipur led with a score of 46, followed by Tripura (36) and Assam (35).

What are the Major Challenges to Electric Mobility?

Charging Infrastructure Gaps: High spatial disparity in charger deployment, non-standardized municipal land allocation guidelines, and multi-month delays in civil clearances. 

• Over 55%–60% of all public charging stations across India are concentrated in just 4 to 5 states—led by Karnataka, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, and Tamil Nadu.

• In Uttar Pradesh (which leads in total volume of electric vehicles), approximately 60% of all charging points are confined to Noida and Lucknow, leaving rural corridors, highways, and secondary towns severely underserved.

Financing Constraints: High upfront acquisition costs, perceived residual value risks by commercial banks, and lack of Priority Sector Lending (PSL) classification for commercial e-fleets.

Uneven EV Adoption: Market momentum remains concentrated in electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers, while commercial four-wheelers and long-haul heavy freight lag behind.

• India’s charger-to-EV ratio hovers around 1 public charger per ~200–235 EVs, compared to global benchmarks of 1 charger per 6 to 20 EVs.

Technology & Supply Chain Vulnerabilities: Domestic manufacturing remains heavily exposed to global supply chain disruptions due to high import reliance for lithium-ion cells and critical minerals.

• China dominates global processing, refining roughly 74% of lithium, 35% of nickel, 80% of cobalt, and 98% of LFP cathode active materials.

Regional Disparities & Subsidy Taper: Uniform central subsidy taper schedules under national schemes widen disparities between fiscally strong states (which can fund local road tax waivers) and revenue-constrained states.

Public Transport Electrification: Financial stress among State Transport Undertakings (STUs) limits the scaling of public e-bus deployments without central security mechanisms.

Battery Ecosystem Deficits: Absence of localized cell manufacturing gigafactories and underdeveloped domestic closed-loop battery recycling infrastructure.

Policy & Grid Implementation Friction: Delays by State Electricity Regulatory Commissions (SERCs) in notifying single-part Time-of-Day (ToD) tariffs, high fixed demand charges on Charge Point Operators (CPOs), and high Aggregate Technical and Commercial (AT&C) losses of state DISCOMs restrict upstream grid feeder upgrades.

What is India’s Policy Support for Electric Mobility?

FAME Scheme: The Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of (Hybrid &) Electric Vehicles framework (FAME-I & FAME-II, FY15–24) provided foundational purchase subsidies, public e-bus grants, and charging network subsidies.

PM E-DRIVE Scheme: Notified in 2024 with an outlay of ₹10,900 crore to replace FAME and EMPS. It allocates ₹3,679 crore for vehicle demand incentives (supporting 24.79 lakh e-2Ws, 3.16 lakh e-3Ws, e-trucks, and ambulances), ₹4,391 crore for 14,028 e-buses, and ₹2,000 crore for public charging infrastructure.

PM-eBus Sewa: Approved with an outlay of ₹3,435.33 crore to guarantee payments for Public Transport Authorities (PTAs) operating over 38,000 e-buses.

Production Linked Incentive (PLI) Schemes:

• PLI for Automobile and Auto Components (PLI-Auto): Incentivizes domestic manufacturing of Advanced Automotive Technology (AAT) products with a minimum 50% Domestic Value Addition (DVA).

• PLI for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) Battery Storage: Drives localized cell manufacturing and gigafactory setup.

EV Charging Infrastructure Enablers: Subsidies under PM E-DRIVE, integration of Model Building Bye-laws, and the launch of the e-AMRIT web portal at COP26 for consumer and investor guidance.

Research and Development: State-level R&D incentives, incubation support for EV startups under Startup India, and institutional Centres of Excellence (CoE).

Way Forward

Expand Charging Infrastructure & Grid Reforms: Implement unified single-window digital portals for charging approvals, enforce Model Building Bye-laws, and mandate single-part ToD power tariffs to improve commercial viability.

Improve EV Financing: Include commercial EV fleets under Priority Sector Lending (PSL), expand battery-as-a-service leasing models, and deploy concessional green credit instruments.

Strengthen Public Transport Electrification: Scale gross cost contract (GCC) models backed by central Payment Security Mechanisms to derisk private bus operator investments.

Support Domestic Battery Manufacturing: Fast-track PLI ACC gigafactory construction and establish strategic critical mineral stockpiles.

Promote Closed-Loop Battery Recycling: Build material recovery infrastructure to harvest critical minerals from India's projected 128 GWh recyclable battery volume by 2030.

Reduce Regional Disparities: Provide targeted Finance Commission grants-in-aid to power utilities in revenue-constrained states for upstream electrical feeder upgrades.

Strengthen State-Level EV Policies: Notify long-term state EV policies with clear legislative tenures, establish state nodal agencies, and integrate urban transport with energy distribution planning.

Encourage Evidence-Based Policymaking: Leverage IEMI indicator data to design region-specific, targeted fiscal and non-fiscal interventions.

Strengthen Cooperative Federalism: Institutionalize a dedicated National EV Council (modeled on the GST Council) to align central schemes with state transport and industrial policies.

Conclusion

Leading states like Delhi, Maharashtra, and Karnataka highlight integrated e-mobility success, yet resolving DISCOM distress, grid bottlenecks, and tariff delays remains crucial for transport decarbonization under Viksit Bharat 2047.

Source: HINDUSTANTIMES