India not yet ready for EVs

Hyderabad: Renault India, CEO, Venkatram Mamillapalle, on Wednesday said that India is not yet ready for EVs as there is no proper infrastructure available for the segment in the country. At least it takes another three to five years of time to fully roll-out EVs in the country, he added. Mamillapalle also said: "With Covid-19 there is an increase in car sales from rural India as many urban people are staying back in their hometowns as the work from home concept is picking up. Furthermore, change of lifestyle among rural people is also adding to the car sales. Mostly the car buyers are first timers as the new normal made the people to have a car for their daily life."

The automobile industry has significantly recovered after the lockdown period and is back to pre-Covid times in car sales. The industry also expects three million car sales by FY22, he added. Renault has doubled the market share with 1,30,000 car sales in India and wants to grow four per cent of market share from the existing 3.2 per cent in current financial year, he said. "We have got 500 outlets across the country and 32 outlets in TS/AP. We have done 37 per cent of sales in rural market and trying to penetrate more in rural India.