New Delhi — India’s most influential government think tank has recommended lowering taxes and interest rates for loans on electric vehicles, while capping sales of conventional cars, signalling a drastic shift in policy in one of the world’s fastest-growing automotive markets. A draft of the 90-page blueprint, seen by Reuters, suggests that the government opens a battery plant by the end of 2018 and uses tax revenues from the sale of petrol and diesel vehicles to set up charging stations for electric vehicles. The recommendations in a draft report by Niti Aayog, the planning body headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, were aimed at electrifying all vehicles in the country by 2032 and were likely to shape a new mobility policy, said government and industry sources. The report’s focus solely on electric vehicles marks a shift away from the current policy, which incentivises hybrid vehicles and electric cars. NEW PARADIGM "India’s potential to create a new mobility paradigm that is sh...

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