MUMBAI, July 27 (Xinhua) -- India has sought suggestions from its domestic auto industry to come up with a proposal to dispose of battery waste ahead of its electric mobility initiative, said a release by industry body Assocham, late Friday.
"Let us come up with a proposal to clear battery waste disposal because when we want to create a pollution free country, pollution created by battery waste should not be there," said the release, quoting Arvind Sawant, union minister for heavy industries and public enterprises.
Drawing a parallel of the rising electronic waste with the information technology boom, the minister called for the need to think about disposing of battery waste with evolution of electric mobility.
Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has already commercialized the indigenously developed lithium-ion battery technology and has selected 14 companies for technology transfer to be deployed in electric vehicles.
The minister also revealed that his department had received 15,000 applications for the expression of interest invited to deploy 5,000 buses by availing incentives under a government scheme. The electric buses will be deployed on an operational cost model basis.
Along with the policy framework in the scheme to encourage faster adoption of e-vehicles, the Indian government had also brought down the goods and service tax rate from 12 percent to 5 percent to incentivize the manufacturers.
