Govt’s Installment Scheme for E-Bikes and E-Rickshaws

The federal government will provide up to Rs. 0.5 million loans under the Prime Minister’s Youth Business & Agriculture Scheme (PMYB&ALS) model for E-Bikes and E-Rickshaws.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet under the chair of the Finance Minister approved the PMYB&ALS model for E-Bikes/E-Rickshaws.

The Ministry of Industries and Production submitted a summary regarding financing facilities for electric bikes (E-bikes) and E-Rickshaws and presented details on the viability, and demand of electric bikes, and incentive structure for potential users to make electric bikes affordable.

Sources told ProPakistani that the federal government has allowed the import of Electric vehicles’ specific parts at the rate of 1 percent Customs Duty and 1 percent Sales tax to facilitate the manufacturing of electric vehicles in the country.

The Ministry of Climate Change in its EV policy 2019 has set the EC penetration target of 50 percent of new sales of two and three-wheeler EVs by 2030.

According to details, a comprehensive presentation on E-bikers was made to the federal government on December 28, 2022. It was also informed that more than 26 million motorcycles are in the country and the annual market size of locally produced motorcycles is more than 2 million.

Existing bikes on the road consume fuel of $3 billion annually and EDB has issued 22 manufacturing licenses to manufacturers of E-bikers and 7,377 units of electric motorcycles were manufactured in 2021-22.

The average cost of an e-Bike with a lithium battery and specific standards is Rs. 190,000.

The government has introduced four financing schemes including a cash purchase model, a price sharing model, an Easy Loan model, and PM’s Youth Business and Agriculture loan scheme model for E-bikes/E-Rickshaws.

Under the scheme, a clean loan of up to Rs. 0.5 million will be given under Tier-I (T1) of PMYB&ALS at a 0 percent markup rate for repayment in three years.

In addition, the loan repayment is three years and to explore the option, a meeting with representatives of SBP and other stakeholders was conducted that supported the scheme and appropriate amendments in the PM’s Youth Business and Agriculture loan scheme for E-Bikes and E-Rickshaws if deemed necessary.

Sources said that all four above-mentioned schemes are different in terms of financial requirements and require financing either from the government or commercial banks. This facility will be available for up to 15,000 E-Bikes/Rickshaws in the current financial year, 60,000 for the next fiscal year 2023-24, and 100,000 for 2024-25. The government has a plan to give 175,000 E-Bikes/Rickshaws in three years.

The modalities of the scheme will be worked out by the Ministry of Industries & Production in coordination with PMYB&ALS.

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