Mumbai, 17 December 2021
A National Conference on “Investment Opportunities in Highways, Transport and Logistics” has been held in Mumbai today, December 17, 2021, under the chairpersonship of Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Shri Nitin Gadkari. The conference highlighted investment opportunities in highways, transport and logistics sector, focusing on three central themes, namely the Bharatmala Pariyojana, Asset Monetization and Vehicle Scrapping Policy.
The Road Transport Minister spoke about the benefits of the government’s Vehicle Scrapping Policy “This will reduce pollution, improve tax revenues, help growth of automobile sector, boost exports and also create jobs. It is a win-win situation, in which investment on a high scale can come in.”
Speaking about the vehicle scrappage policy, Principal Secretary, Transport, Government of Maharashtra, Ashish Kumar Singh appreciated the Union Minister Shri Nitin Gadkari and the M/o Road Transport & Highways for announcing the first ever vehicle scrappage policy.
Shri Ashish Kumar spoke about the current transformation in mobility and also mentioned about the requirement for scrapping facility in the state to meet the demand. “The future is going to be electric, maybe even autonomous. We will need large scrapping facilities in the state to deal with the challenges arising due to transformation in mobility.” He said that this shift can be achieved only by replacing Internal Combustion Engine vehicles by Electric Vehicles.
The Principal Secretary spoke about the state’s new Electric vehicle policy which he said has been received very well by original equipment manufacturer (OEMs) and customers. “We have given significant incentives. There is no road tax for Electric Vehicles till 2025, no registration charges, no permit charges in the state of Maharashtra.”
He also said that investors will be offered incentives to set up scrapping facilities in the state. He encouraged investors to explore setting up of scrapping facility in the state’s major automobile cluster comprising Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik and Aurangabad where the ecosystem is already existing. “There is tremendous opportunity for people to invest here.”
Shri Singh spoke about the advantage of the state and how investors can make use of this opportunity in Maharashtra. “We have a huge geographic advantage that has led to evolution of large transport network of more than 3,00,000 kms of road network. The state has the highest vehicle sales in the country and also highest share of automobile exports in the country. We hope Maharashtra to become the hub of vehicle scrappage in the country, given the large base of Recreational vehicles.”
Principal Secretary also explained the state’s Scrappage Policy Benefits and the support being offered by the govt.
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