India has bold ambitions for electric mobility. The government has committed ₹10,900 crore under its PM Electric Drive Revolution in Innovative Vehicle Enhancement (PM E-DRIVE) scheme, targeting the adoption of over 28 lakh electric vehicles by March 2028. But the latest report by the Parliamentary committee has revealed some concerning information.
The Department-Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Industry, chaired by Tamil Nadu MP Tiruchi Siva, presented its 332nd Report on the Demands for Grants 2026-27 of the Ministry of Heavy Industries to Parliament on March 11, 2026.
What it reveals about PM E-DRIVE is a story of lopsided progress: the scheme is working well for electric two-wheelers and three-wheelers, but has achieved precisely zero for e-buses, e-trucks and e-ambulances—the heavy-duty segments with the largest potential for reducing India's vehicular emissions.
As of January 31, 2026, a total of 16,56,335 vehicles have been incentivised against a revised target of 28,26,634. This meant 58.6 per cent were covered. But almost all of that progress comes from just two segments: e-2Ws (14,31,133 units) and e-3W L5 category (2,21,600 units).
The e-3W L5 segment, in fact, met its revised target and incentives for it were closed on December 26, 2025.
But e-buses, e-trucks and e-ambulances are segments where electrification would make the most difference to urban air quality and public transport. There, nothing of note has happened, according to the report.
The committee noted that while guidelines and a Phased Manufacturing Programme for e-trucks were issued in 2025 and one model has received certification, implementation "remains at a preparatory stage, with nil physical achievement and no expenditure." The move for e-ambulances is still "under preparation", as per the report.
Making things worse, the scheme's budget for demand incentives in 2026-27 has been slashed sharply, from a revised allocation of ₹1,129.85 crore in 2025-26 to just ₹313.59 crore in 2026-27, even as the heavy-duty capital-intensive segments have yet to get off the ground.
The committee warned this "could dampen adoption momentum before the ecosystem is fully established."
2.32 lakh OEM claims stuck
The committee also flagged that as of January 31, 2026, reimbursement claims for 2,32,588 electric vehicles remain pending with manufacturers, largely in the e-two-wheeler segment, owing to integration failures between state vehicle registration portals and the national VAHAN database. Companies waiting for government money face real working capital stress as a result.
The committee also strongly recommended that the government introduce a consumer subsidy for electric four-wheelers, a segment currently excluded from PM E-DRIVE entirely. With e-4Ws yet to penetrate the mainstream market due to high upfront costs, it argued that supply-side PLI incentives alone cannot bridge the affordability gap for India's middle-class car buyer, and urged a calibrated, price-capped demand incentive linked to battery capacity and vehicle efficiency.
Meanwhile, the PLI scheme for Advanced Chemistry Cell (ACC) battery manufacturing, the backbone of the entire EV ecosystem, has commissioned just 1 GWh out of an awarded 40 GWh, against an original scheme vision of 50 GWh.
Moreover, the actual incentive disbursement of the Production Linked Incentive for Automobile and Auto Components (PLI AUTO) only hit ₹2,378 crore up to January 2026, a sliver of the total outlay of ₹25,938 crore.
The committee also warned that China's dominance in rare earth minerals and its recent export restrictions on key rare earth magnets represent a direct and immediate threat to this programme.