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Hardeep Singh Brar, President and CEO, BMW Group India.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
With the Goods & Services Tax (GST) Council scheduled to meet early next week to deliberate on rationalisation of the tax structure, German carmaker BMW India has urged the rate-fixing body to retain the existing 5% slab for all passenger electric vehicles (EVs) to give a boost to e-mobility.
“We hope that the sustainable push towards electric cars will continue to be encouraged as a priority and will reflect in the GST strategy by retaining the existing 5% GST on all passenger electric vehicles,” said Hardeep Singh Brar, President and CEO, BMW Group India.
“BMW Group India has been an early proponent of e-mobility in India, strategically investing towards expansion and localization of electric product portfolio. An adverse impact from GST rates can derail the vision of high electric adoption and local production in India,” he said.
Stating that the recent speculation about the change in GST rates had caused uncertainty in the minds of consumers, he said consumer interest and demand was strong, but they had adopted a wait and watch approach, and this delayed decision-making was impacting new vehicle sales at a certain level.
“Expediting clarity on GST rates is essential to get back to speed and ensure auto sector’s contribution to economic growth during this quarter is robust,” he said.
Commenting on the subject, Ajinkya Firodia, Vice Chairman, Kinetic India which is into two- wheelers, said rationalisation of GST was a good idea to remove complexity and bring about uniformity and the right direction for the country.
“However, there are reports of tax reduction only in smaller capacity vehicles (up to 300 cc) and an increase in above 300 cc. Since the majority of the market, over 2 crore per annum, is already in the lower category, there is no need to create this divide and a mid ground but common tax should be implemented,” he said.
Urging the GST Council to support EVs, he said EVs, after all these years of subsidy, were finally getting accepted and growing; however, penetration was still in single digits at 9 percent.
“Hence, we should consider subsidy continuation and enhancement for 5 years clearly, till there is a 40–50% shift to the same,” he said.
“For funds, therefore, we needn’t rationalise from 28% to 8% but can instead make a common 15% for petrol and enhance subsidy back to 15,000 per kWh. This will serve all purposes,” he added.
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Published – August 30, 2025 08:23 pm IST
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