No FAME 3.0 announcement in Budget’ 25: Kumaraswamy

NEW DELHI: The third phase Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME), the government’s incentive scheme to promote green mobility will be announced in the near future but not in the upcoming Union Budget, H D Kumaraswamy, Union minister of heavy industries, said an event on Tuesday.

“FAME 3 preparatory work is going on. All seven ministries have sent their recommendations on implementing the FAME programme. It is going to be implemented in the coming days,” the minister said on the sidelines of an industry event today.

While Kumaraswamy didn’t give an exact timeline for the launch of the new scheme, he did confirm the scheme is in its final stages. His remark comes as automobile industry is pinning hope on incentives to boost electric vehicle (EV) sales.

The third instalment of the FAME scheme will replace the temporary Electric Mobility Promotion Scheme (EMPS) 2024, which is set to expire by the end of July. EMPS was launched in mid-March 2024. The Rs 500 crore scheme, which replaced FAME 2, has failed to achieve the desired aim with just 3.6% of the targeted vehicle sales achieved so far.

The FAME 2 scheme was rolled out in 2019 with an outlay of Rs 10,000 crore for three years ending in 2022 but was extended to March 2024. It played an instrumental role in increasing the penetration of EVs in the Indian market.