India, April 15 -- This past Saturday, as one state, Karnataka, announced that it was effectively withdrawing incentives for electric vehicles, particularly four-wheelers, the government of Delhi announced an extremely generous policy offering subsidies and benefits to buyers of electric vehicles. Such demand-side subsidies, particularly for two - and three-wheelers, as well as benefits on road tax and registration for four-wheelers below thirty lakh, if approved, are being seen as a positive step.

Or is it?

I would like to raise a couple of points here. Demand-side subsidies for electric vehicles, when the industry was nascent, were important to get sales moving along. Whether through FAME or PM-eDRIVE, these subsidies have had a huge ...