India, Aug. 18 -- India's flagship electric vehicle incentive programme, Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Hybrid and Electric Vehicles (FAME) scheme, paid nearly Rs 468 crore to manufacturers that violated localisation norms, even as thousands of approved charging stations were not commissioned on time, a recent Comptroller and Auditor General of India report has found, along with several other irregularities.

The Union Ministry of Heavy Industries launched the first phase of the scheme, known as FAME-I, in April 2015 to promote electric and hybrid vehicles. It was initially given a budget of Rs 795 crore for two years. The scheme was later extended until March 2019, and its budget was increased to Rs 895 crore.

The second phase, FA...